Thursday, January 31, 2013
OUR STATE GOES BOOM
The Hellhole That is California
And in only half his term. Jerry.
He is cookin' and ready to move further with a lock on the legislature.
This is what happens when your GOP goes legless. They are almost non-existent at the State level and soon will lose some more congressional seats too.
This is the amusement park, The Pike. Title is California amusement park building boom.
I just liked the picture.
The Pike was and is in Long Beach where we have spent some time. Now, it is a commercial development. Booming. But no amusement park. An aquarium and a huge conference center fills the space.
Labels: California, economy, fun
OH NO! NOT THAT!!!
Love Rears Its Ugly Head. Again. Living Colour at Montreaux 2001.
I am finding these videos at various blogs I attend. This one and some others are direct off, of all things, Political Animal by Ed Kilgore who has the same taste and interests I do. Amazing.
The other day it was the Byrds. And he finds great quality video and sound. Not always the case, unfortunately. I cannot abide the amateur hand held video for anything.
Now, in a reversal of my lifetime aural arc, the listeners, mostly young, have overturned high fidelity for the tinny and empty sound of ear pieces and amateur downloads.
These videos are of the old style. Great watching and listening in depth.
So, I just pass them on. With my approval.
I love the Living Colour guys.
Labels: music
PAINFUL COMEDY
Today's film, a foreign nominee for the Academy Awards, was
Hearat Shulayim / Footnote (2011)
This searing comedy, yes, searing, tells what happens when a father and son compete in the dry, seemingly drama less world of academia.
Ostensibly a comedy, the story quickly cuts to the ironic heart of the matter.
The father has worked hard in the vineyard for many years with scant recognition for his detailed work. One footnote.
The son, riding on the work of his father and other basic researchers, has popularized the material and written many successful books.
There is enough resentment going around between them that when the son gets chosen over the father for a national honor, some academic and family, long term resentments are spilled.
The committee, in a bit of confusion, calls the father with the news instead of the winner son. They call the wrong academic.
This could be a soufflé of a comedy and the beginning of the film creates this mood. The music is fanciful and light. "Look at these flighty academics".
But underneath are those layers of history. There is blood to be drawn. This even happens once in a surprising outburst of violence.
For all these guys know about the past, they know nothing about real life.
The father is a cold hearted bastard, closed to the world. Someone calls him "autistic". The son is equally out of touch, mean and arrogant. A vicious competitor, a stern father to his own son. Ultimatums.
There is a lot of pain in the unstinting drama that unfolds from this mistake in the award.
Who will break? Who will tell the truth?
I found myself chuckling a lot but underneath, stirred with emotion and anxiety about how this would play out.
It is beautifully realized, this family drama. This comedy with so much pain.
I would not mind seeing it again to watch the currents flow and to observe more closely the fine acting by the father, the son, the wives, the grandson and the symbolic, academic father who sets the whole thing in motion.
A 4 out of Netflix5.
I have seen three Israeli films in the last week. All with rich production values and great acting. In the "old days" when "foreign films" covered the bare few items that made it over the border, we live in a time when the term "foreign" should be dropped. Maybe "international". People still are hung up on subtitles and won't go see these wonderful films. But they should. The films are making it over the borders anyway but the audience could be way bigger. Should be.
Thanks to Netflix' vast updated catalog and on line streaming via YouTube and other venues, we no longer have to depend on an antiquated distribution system and overly commercialized theaters to see good films from all over the world.
Labels: films
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
TURNING POINT?
This is exactly what I talked to John about this morning.
Is the Conservative Fever Starting to Break?
Look at the last several weeks.
Sudden progress on immigration reform.
Working on gun control out loud.
The backing off voter registration manipulations (the electoral vote by district thing).
The backoff of the budget face-off. The debt limits.
Gay marriage and gay rights progress.
There are others. These are the easiest to recite just off the bat.
Oh. And Fox fires Palin. Now that is one high fever gone, right now.
And, as the man says, look at Obama's numbers.
Labels: republican whack jobs
LIFE STREAMING
Today's spanish film was the first film of Eusebio Pastrana
Exuberantly gay, straight and otherwise people come together to enjoy one another, bring a new life into the world, find their own way in and out of life and, for the most part, have a good time.
Almost 100% handheld and a bit shaky at that, we are in the midst of the people. Nicely done with a lot of "technique" which is neither intrusive or irritating.
A bit of the alternative film here and, at its roots, a very basic story.
I found this film while browsing and took a chance. It is not in the Netflix files so I bought it.
And I am glad that I did.
The central gay couple have great heat and happiness in their coming together which happens in the first frames of the picture.
They, or one of them, Omar, decides that they should have a child and so they set out to do so. As in most of life's quests, the solutions they strive for don't work very well but another alternative almost drops in their lap.
This is a feel good movie and it does not shrink from the problems of life.
I will see it again for sure. It has many layers and I didn't see them all.
It also has 101 kisses. They even count them for you so you don't miss any.
A 5 out of Netflix5 if Netflix had this DVD.
Labels: films
TIME WARP HISTORY
I have finally completed Kurt Andersen's
This doorstop of a novel speeds along the seams of the two recent centuries with a power couple named George and Lizzie.
They sit in the nexus of the media/dot.com/celebrity whirls. New York City.
And they aspire to great things but can't quite put their finger on what that is specifically. And when they do achieve successes, they seem to skip past them without savor. On to the next thing and they missed the fun of the present.
This book is more satire than reality and, at the same time, feels perfectly true to its time.
When was that time? Almost 15 years ago? Did we talk like that then? Was the world spinning on that particular axis?
I didn't find the novel at all dated. I think, partly, because these kind of shenanigans are still going on but also because Andersen has lived in the bubble and knows the human side of it. The side that transcends the ethos. The zeitgeist. There are people involved here and people really don't change much. Just the situations they are in.
There are many many jokes, one liners, funny asides and more than enough name dropping to make the pages turn. Bill Gates shows up along with his big company. Others.
Although there is a period in the late middle that I wanted Andersen to hurry up I didn't want to miss anything either.
Lots of LOL which can't be explained to the person sitting next to you.
George and Lizzie have good hearts though and we care about them and their family. Not so with a lot of the other main characters who are ego driven greed pigs.
There are the pioneers of money manipulation. The ones who make no real contribution to the GNP but have it all. There are the techno geeks and the purpose driven hackers who are bent on doing in the powers that be. We see the inside workings of a television production. The bones of this novel are all very good ones. Lots of realistic stuff to be funny about. There are actual, breathtaking, scenes of fiddling the stock market. Puts and calls and margins.
As for George and Lizzie, they almost lose each other. This becomes the through line of the novel and we do care about them.
It is not surprising, this being a moral tale as well as a hilarious hell bent for leather fun ride, that G and L have to lose everything to gain the world and to get each other back.
I am not sure yet if this book is a keeper or not. It is too long to read again, I think. But I didn't put it into the "send to library" pile.
Labels: books
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
REAX
I am at the last stage, of course, headed toward zero in which I will have no opinion about society at all.
Complex or not.
At some point, they will cancel my vote to say anything about it. I am almost there.
SHORTED
Today's movie was a couple of shorts that I got for about ten bucks off the internet.
And that is about what they were worth.
I am only noting this because I usually do have a real movie, I used up the time on this stuff and that is that.
I should know better.
One film is almost an outrage.
Two actors, straight, are left to work out how they will do a gay love scene together. The name of the short is Performance Anxiety.
It is awkward, homophobic and ultimately a failure as, by the time you see the gay scene, they are lousy in it.
I vote that this one be burned. I will not show a trailer for it. Go find one for yourself.
One of the films was not bad. At times, it was almost good and just a tiny part of the time sweet and touching. A conventional romance.
It does show some small glimpse of gay life in India. That is why this is a short. There is no gay life to report. India is one of those countries that has no gay people. All are closeted and any that are not are not taken seriously. Perhaps they are not really harrassed at all but they are lost in the caste system somewhere between untouchables and whatever else slinks across the bottom.
The guy who made this is an American and "cheated" by using a plot device where one of the men is an indian by heritage but is fully westernized. Otherwise, none of this could happen.
There are other countries where there are "no gays". Not just because of political and religious suppression (Iran) but also a result of the culture. Men may have sex and be close to one another in any way but there is no open gay life. Everyone marries heterosexually. This is most prevalent where marriage is still a feudal form binding together property or prestige.
Labels: films, gay life, international gays
NEWS FROM THE OUT BACK
This is a great little town. Just read the article. It doesn't leave a lot more to say.
Sewers, Curfews and a Ban on Gay Bias
The part I like is about the small group of friends who protected the gay boy who is now mayor of the town. Although he does not believe the motion passed because of him.
Again. Proof positive that coming out to others is the best possible way of achieving gay rights. Once they know even one of us we are on our way to shoveling out the shit.
Notice that the one guy who voted "nay" did so because of his religion and not because of his personal belief. How do the christer's look at themselves in the mirror?
I know this town. I grew up in it only it was in Eastern Pennsylvania when I did my time.
We had a lot of gay men hiding out in the crevices and people made sure that is where they stayed.
One guy, Billy, a year ahead of me, went back home again and lived there with his husband. More than I could ever do.
I am sure that he has been a power of example to the shit-kickers. He was flamboyant when he was a kid. There were some tough kids that stood up for him. I had the same. I wasn't a flamer but I had that "thing" that most straight boys can pick up on.
My father was also on the school board. And I was a very good student.
Labels: gay rights
Monday, January 28, 2013
GUN CONTROL
Volunteer shows one of the best gun control approaches.
A little higher!
Labels: gun control
AIRBORNE
The Flying Burrito Brothers.
This video is special because of its fidelity and technical quality.
It is rare to find a good recording of older groups.
These guys were favorites and before that The Byrds.
Labels: music
BDAY TODAY
I am 76 today.
Questions from the crowd: Do you feel any different? No. Do you feel any older? No. Are you really 76? Yes.
You don't look it.
Ahhhhh. That is the reaction I was looking for.
In a few months I will be saying that I am 77 just so I can get that reaction.
If I looked like an old fart I would not do that.
I don't.
I look and feel just fine. Like always, more or less.
I have had times in my life when I felt a whole lot worse, believe me. And that wasn't that bad.
Nice to get the phone calls and cards.
Nice to have a special piece of coconut layer cake with boiled icing from Billy Reeds tonight. Just like my mothers only more lavish with one layer of custard and another layer of pineapple preserve inside.
We don't do gifts any more. If somebody wants something they buy it.
Happy birthday to me.
Labels: birthdays
SPIRIT WORLD
Today's film was by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul and was a NYTimes Critics' Pick as well as a Cannes award recipient
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
This film shows a traditional world with non-traditional film grammar.
There is a parallel world feeling to most of it.
Sometimes there is a crossover from one world to another.
Uncle Boonmee, a farmer, is dying of kidney disease. This is not a poverty film. Boonmee is reasonably prosperous, has Laotian employees and a family by his side.
As we watch, it is hoped patiently, Uncle's worlds meld and flow back and forth. There is no spooky music or weird shit going on here. It just happens.
We see what he sees as well as the people close to him.
Some of it is fantastic. Some is rather pedestrian.
When he dies there is a shift from the old world of forest and nature to modern settings for the funeral and mourning period. Flourescent light takes over. Teevee.
There is no sledgehammer thing going on here. Just a slow, gentle contrast between the world we have seen for 80% of the film and the world we are in now.
The film is not inaccessible. It is rather clear. It doesn't jump to any conclusion that I couldn't follow.
The language is beautiful to hear. Rhythmic. Tonal. Sweet.
Death is not fearful in this scenario. It is welcome. At one point Boonmee talks about an excitement at the prospect.
There is also not a lot of near death suffering. He is ill but not out of it and is able to be with it all as it passes before his, and our, eyes.
I will give this film a 4 out of Netflix5. I would be more than happy to see it again.
Labels: films
Sunday, January 27, 2013
ORIGINAL
Today's film was the original Israeli version of
They didn't wait long for the re-make. Almost a slap in the face.
The original is much more psychological and plays to the guilt of the trio who allows the nazi to get away and then pretends that they killed him.
The debt is that they must now finish him off.
I don't know that one is better than the other. I found this one more interesting. Unknown actors and a lower budget. Less spectacular shenanigans in the escape sequences.
Also a bit of homo erotica turned toward sadism and anger. Not big but very strong.
I am glad that I did it but I have renewed my pledge not to watch remakes and if I find that I have seen one inadvertently, I will let well enough alone and move on.
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
BOOK REPORT
Quite some time ago, I stopped blog posting about the books I was reading.
I am not sure why.
Laziness.
Since then, I have often thought about reviving the custom but never quite made it.
I think that today is the day. Just because I have ended a long dry period of new books and new authors.
I was driven to go back and re-read some beloved fiction. The entire works of Alan Furst, the wonderful writer of WWII underground novels. Ward Just's oeuvre.
But now, I am back on track. There have been many new and interesting books that have come my way.
Here are some of them. Some in process, others about to be cracked for the first time.
I usually have two streams going. The usual split. Ficton and non-fiction. The fiction I carry with me and slot into the day wherever I can. The non-fiction stays in one place. The better to concentrate.
Fiction.
Right now, I am reading Kurt Andersen's Turn of the Century about a small family in the hi-tech business riding the ups and downs of the dot.com revolution. One year. It is hilarious. One liners abound. People turn to look at me as I am chuckling along with the bike rpms.
I am reading all of Andersen and had completed his second book (yeh, out of order, unusually) HeyDay which also follows the one year in the life of formula only this one is 1848 and follows a group of young Americans, one Brit, who seek their fortune in the west. It is also funny but a bit bloodier fun. A whole lot was happening here in the mid 1900s.
I am also reading all the work of Ron Hansen. I began with Desperadoes, the story of the Dalton Gang. Nice work. Detail. Told from the viewpoint of the one (spoiler) survivor, a teenage brother who ends up making a fortune in the movies telling tall tales about his experience.
Hansen is a great writer and I am a bit struck by his talent but also a bit worried about two novels in the middle of his career that seem to dwell on catholic themes. I guess I can handle it.
On the non-fiction list, which is basically bathroom reading, I have just finished The Big House the award winning memoir by George Howe Colt. Great. I give it an award also. Full of family, history, Boston South Shore lore. Looking forward to reading his Brothers which is in the flight pattern. About his brothers (I never had one) and other famous brothers including the Marx.
Also in the queue for non-fiction is the serious takedown of Scientology Going Clear as well as John Homan's What is a Dog For?. Looming ahead is the large and heavy Far From the Tree Andrew Solomon's survey of unusual families, parents and children. Solomon was a gay son of straight parents. Many other more extraordinary parent child outcomes are explored.
The current reading is a once in a decade find. A book that has been around a long time (1920) that springs up in the middle of things crying to be read. The Journal of a Disappointed Man and a Last Diary by W.N.P. Barbellion the pen name of Bruce Frederick Cummings who died at an early age from multiple sclerosis. In the midst of a flourishing career as a zoologist (and many other things), the writer reflects on his life and its end but in a way that is exciting and life affirming and optimistic. Although he doesn't think so.
I know it sounds morbid and all but it is not.
I am reminded that writing about books is not reading about books which is what this is all about. So the more I write, the less I am reading. That is all, over and out. Gotta go read now.
Labels: books
P-TOWN
All we needed was the foghorn.
And the bay lapping the shore.
Otherwise, today's walk was totally reminiscent of walking the wet sand on the Cape.
We had low hanging clouds, not quite fog.
We had no mountains to distract.
The air was damp and a bit pungent. Not sea weed quite but still. Our odor comes from the south, the Salton Sea. Voila!
We are walking along the dry river bed. There are a lot of rocks and such lining the walls of the river to be when it really really rains.
And there is a lot of dried plant stuff along the sand walkway. Could be seaweed.
For awhile it took us back to those days we lived along the strand in Provincetown, just this side of the raucous crowd. Close enough to the fun if we wanted. Away when we did not. The quiet beach.
I can always go back and be there. The place we miss most from the days back east. All I have to do is have a morning like this one and a few cues. I am back.
Labels: provincetown, weather
Saturday, January 26, 2013
HEADLONG ROMANCE
Today's Terrence Davies film is, actually, yes, another remake. But this time from the Fifties which was a film of the Terrence Rattigan play.
A NYTimes Critics' Pick. An old fashioned, highly disciplined and beautiful film about falling out of the bourgeois life and into an affair. Post WWII, a conventional and well educated daughter of a Vicar and the younger, almost too young, falls in love with a flying ace from WWII. The ace has yet to reach the ground. Cannot find a civilian niche. Goes for the girl because she is there.
But it is not about that. It is about mindless passion, some of the best sex scenes I have recently seen. It is about British class. Still working its ways on people.
It is about propriety and how fragile that can be in the face of feelings. Particularly in the Fifties.
It is about the War. Internal and external.
This thing works, this old fashioned theatrical crate, because it has the direction from Davies and the skill of its principals. Notably Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston as the star crossed lovers. Simon Russell Beale is the husband who still loves in a brotherly kind of way. Others flesh out the small cast with great skill.
This film has lots of space. Quiet points between the flashes of storm. And what storms. Passion is not just the sex or the intense infatuation. It also involves the hatred aroused in such a situation, of self and other.
Lots going on here.
The score is beautifully composed and played even with crying violins. Great.
Lovely colors in a postwar drab.
I would gladly watch this again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
OUT AND ABOUT
There is nothing better for gay rights than to have people actually know a gay person.
Hence, in Congress, things are going to get a lot more open to gay people. Seven of their own members are living right there next to them.
Openly Gay, and Openly Welcomed in Congress
Progress is our most important product.
This is Mark Takano, the new rep from the next over Congressional District in Riverside.
Labels: gay culture, gay identity, gay liberation, gay life, gay politics, gay rights
Friday, January 25, 2013
NICE
From an unprecedented joint interview to be broadcast Monday.
Labels: Administration Obama, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
MADE IT
I have always believed this would happen and sooner rather than later.
S&P 500 has longest winning streak since ‘04; first close above 1,500 since start of recession.
Most of my retirement is in the form of equities. I have kept it that way pretty much with a nod towards bonds. Municipals which trade well.
Not to get into the details, but I was doing well, then I was not and then, because I stuck with it and didn't run, I have done well again.
Somehow, perhaps just being too dumb or stubborn, I have been comparatively risk tolerant.
The trend is always up even when the numbers are going down.
That said, I will brace myself for the next cycle.
It is all cycles.
Just be in the right place at the right time and you can ride it.
WATCH BOBBY RUN!
This is pretty much my thought.
Bobby Jindal is Running for President. He Might Win.
It is not news really but yesterday he made the kind of speech that can only be seen as the first political speech of the 2016 season.
Didn't you know that the 2016 season has started?
He is first out of the gates for either party.
I think that he has a good chance in the GOP run.
He has governed, he is loud and articulate if not very smart and he does not weigh 300 pounds. He looks good.
The media is giving him a free ride without too much question.
That is enough, really.
No one else enjoys this kind of support.
Paul Ryan? He starts from a historically bad position as the Veep who lost. And he is a crank.
Labels: Republican primary
TEL AVIV ALIVE
Today's film, gay Israelis, was
This one just turned up. I had not known about it.
It is an epic level comedy about gay life, mostly but not all, male in Tel Aviv.
There is a lot of sex and a little less love, less convincing also.
The comedy part of this is clear but it doesn't always come off.
The reference to John Waters is clear in the drag Divine like mother who plays it straight as do all the others.
The sex is pretty nice to watch.
There is a side story about alien abduction built into it which is a little kinky but it never interrupts the sex.
I watched this all the way through without stopping or FF.
I don't know how I feel about it.
If I watched it again I would do a lot of FF to the hot spots.
So that makes it a weak 3 or a probable 3 out of Netflix5.
PASS IT ON
This is a very touching story.
A NY librarian decided to unofficially "loan" an expensive doll given to the library by a corporate donor, the doll's manufacturer.
The history of the doll and its impact on the kids who got to take care of her for awhile is very touching.
I suppose that I am not shocked that some parents will not let their girls (or boys, certainly) play with dolls. Or this doll because it is expensive. Or this doll because it is part of a line which is vaguely not politically correct.
I certainly understand not being able to afford a doll. But not withholding it.
This just confirms my belief that a lot of parents are really delusional or, somehow, twisted in directions that go against good just when they think they are doing good.
Sure. You don't want to have a girl miss opportunities to do and be anything or anyone that they can. Same with boys. But fighting gender stereotypes by creating new ones is unconscionable.
I am ranting.
The point here is that girls (or boys) who want to borrow a doll have a way to do that. Regardless of parental stupidity or cupidity. Regardless of economic status.
Her hair must be replaced because she has had it made over so many times it is matted and dirty. Great.
I bet they will be inundated with dolls to loan.
Labels: children
Thursday, January 24, 2013
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Today's film was the remake of the Israeli film
with Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson as an older couple and a lover (Ciaran Hinds), with a history in Mossad, the Israeli counter terrorist intelligence service.
Flashbacks tell the story and then the real story is stitched together. In short. A coverup.
The younger version of the threesome are not very close to the older in appearance which I found distracting even confusing the two men.
They are after a "butcher" from the holocaust camps. Jesper Christensen is great in this, frothing at the mouth. They let him be himself at the two ages. I don't much like this kind of casting "magic".
I also don't watch remakes and I didn't know that this was done before or I might not have rented it.
In any event, I am renting the original soon. It is on the way.
This is really a thriller with its heart in WWII and the postwar East Germany.
It is exciting enough and enjoyable.
I don't worship at the shrine of Hellen Mirren but she is pretty good in it.
I am sure that they hired expensive vocal coaches but I could have done without the vaguely Israeli accents which were the same as for the jew hating german.
I would give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
HRC HAS ENOUGH OF THEIR BULLSHIT
The GOoPers are still trying to make Benghazi a reason not to re-elect the President.
To be plain about it, they are simply being assholes for the sake of being assholes.
You may remember, if McCain and the others don't, that Obama was elected. It is over.
Of course, McCain is still fighting the 2008 Presidential Election.
Hillary tells them to fuck off.
Labels: Hillary Clinton, McCain, republican whack jobs
WHEEL RIGHT
Today's film was
Morgan, a gay athlete, had an accident with his bike, hit a rock and ended up paralyzed.
He is getting his life back together and, for good measure, he is challenged to win the same race in his special hand operated bike.
In the midst of this, he meets another guy and one thing leads to another. They fall in love.
But sharing the special life of a paraplegic is a new challenge. More daunting perhaps than the bike race.
This is an old movie idea. The wheelchair guy and the normal mate. Brando and Teresa Wright in The Men and other such films come to mind.
In making the two lovers men, there is a different twist which is deftly handled and beautifully worked out by the director, cast and crew. Filmed in NYC in digital, the pictures pop. Almost a 3D effect.
This is not really a weeper. They go in a different direction. It is a nice story about nice people who are challenged in more than one way to make it through some formidable obstacles.
Not once does it feel faked or hyped up for an extra emotional wring.
I liked it. The gay angle is well handled. The story is engaging. What else could I want? A 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
EPIC
Richard Soccarides in the New Yorker.
AMERICA’S MOST IMPORTANT GAY-RIGHTS SPEECH?
Ironies of life.
Socarides, who is openly gay, is the son of the late Charles Socarides (1922–2005), a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who is widely regarded as the father of conversion therapy, and an outspoken critic of the American Psychiatric Association's 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. In 1992 the elder Socarides co-founded NARTH, in response to the American Psychoanalytic Association's 1992 decision to change its position on homosexuality.
Richard is gay. Ba Boom. Sorry Dad.
Richard became an advisor to the Obamas and is a widely printed commentary on gay affairs.
May his dad spin in his grave for fucking ever, the bastard.
Labels: gay rights, Re-election of Barack Obama
TAKING A DIP
I often say that the only constellation that I know is Orion.
This is true as far as it goes but not true in the entire galactic sense.
I also know the Big Dipper when I see it but only when I see it. I haven't ever paid enough attention to know where it at any particular time.
Now, though, I see it every morning. First thing in the sky. It hangs over the north eave of our back patio and doesn't seem to move from that location.
Is that possible? No. Actually not.
Because it is so far north, its sweep is not as big and wide as Orion so it appears to always be there. We are more revolving around it.
This video explains it.
Not so important as I have become used to seeing it every day as I take a feel of the temperature. I look up and there it is.
Sorry, I don't see a bear, me.
It has been cold lately so I don't spend much time at all looking.
Just a glimpse.
Good morning.
Listen to this guy. I'll bet that he is from Canada. "Ooouut".
Labels: astronomy
LEGAL GYMNASTICS
Today's movie was
with Matthew McConaughey as a slick "get-em-off" lawyer working out of his Lincon Continental.
He gets hired to defend Ryan Phillipe for a killing Phillipe says he didn't commit.
With some investigative help from William H. Macy and inside help from his ex-mostly-wife Maria Tomei, he finds himself in a lot murkier waters than the ones he normally sharks in.
Complications ensue.
This is a nice courtroom drama spliced to a killer thriller and a lot of behind scenes shit that goes on in the so called legal profession.
I enjoyed it very much.
It is an actors picture and there are plenty of juicy parts to go around. John Leguizamo as a helpful bail bondsman.
It is one of those films I want to see who the casting director was. Were. Deborah Aquila and Mary Tricia Wood.
Five twists to the ending.
Many circuits to go around, wonderful filming of LA and environs and we are really really there, not in Toronto.
This is a one time thrill as when you know the ins and outs it is mostly done. I would be willing to see it again though just to here M M utter his lines and to see Ryan Phillipe who has grown into a great character part guy. Aging very very well.
Oh, the chauffeur's name is Earl. Laurence Mason. Just great.
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Monday, January 21, 2013
BLANCO updated with text of the poem
One sun rose on us today,
kindled over our shores,
peeking over the Smokies, greeting the faces
of the Great Lakes, spreading a simple truth
across the Great Plains, then charging across the Rockies.
One light, waking up rooftops, under each one, a story
told by our silent gestures moving behind windows.
My face, your face, millions of faces in morning’s mirrors,
each one yawning to life, crescendoing into our day:
pencil-yellow school buses, the rhythm of traffic lights,
fruit stands: apples, limes, and oranges arrayed like rainbows
begging our praise. Silver trucks heavy with oil or paper—
bricks or milk, teeming over highways alongside us,
on our way to clean tables, read ledgers, or save lives—
to teach geometry, or ring-up groceries as my mother did
for twenty years, so I could write this poem.
All of us as vital as the one light we move through,
the same light on blackboards with lessons for the day:
equations to solve, history to question, or atoms imagined,
the “I have a dream” we keep dreaming,
or the impossible vocabulary of sorrow that won’t explain
the empty desks of twenty children marked absent
today, and forever. Many prayers, but one light
breathing color into stained glass windows,
life into the faces of bronze statues, warmth
onto the steps of our museums and park benches
as mothers watch children slide into the day.
One ground. Our ground, rooting us to every stalk
of corn, every head of wheat sown by sweat
and hands, hands gleaning coal or planting windmills
in deserts and hilltops that keep us warm, hands
digging trenches, routing pipes and cables, hands
as worn as my father’s cutting sugarcane
so my brother and I could have books and shoes.
The dust of farms and deserts, cities and plains
mingled by one wind—our breath. Breathe. Hear it
through the day’s gorgeous din of honking cabs,
buses launching down avenues, the symphony
of footsteps, guitars, and screeching subways,
the unexpected song bird on your clothes line.
Hear: squeaky playground swings, trains whistling,
or whispers across café tables, Hear: the doors we open
for each other all day, saying: hello, shalom,
buon giorno, howdy, namaste, or buenos días
in the language my mother taught me—in every language
spoken into one wind carrying our lives
without prejudice, as these words break from my lips.
One sky: since the Appalachians and Sierras claimed
their majesty, and the Mississippi and Colorado worked
their way to the sea. Thank the work of our hands: weaving steel into bridges, finishing one more report
for the boss on time, stitching another wound
or uniform, the first brush stroke on a portrait,
or the last floor on the Freedom Tower
jutting into a sky that yields to our resilience.
One sky, toward which we sometimes lift our eyes
tired from work: some days guessing at the weather
of our lives, some days giving thanks for a love
that loves you back, sometimes praising a mother who knew how to give, or forgiving a father
who couldn’t give what you wanted.
We head home: through the gloss of rain or weight
of snow, or the plum blush of dusk, but always—home,
always under one sky, our sky. And always one moon
like a silent drum tapping on every rooftop
and every window, of one country—all of us—
facing the stars
hope—a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to name it—together
Labels: poetry, Re-election of Barack Obama
FANTASTIC MUSIC
There were three choral groups. Here is the mainline one. What a show!
You should have earphones for this. It is a great recording especially for an outdoors event. Stereophonic! This is a better quality than I heard on the White House dot com broadcast.
Labels: music, Re-election of Barack Obama
LAYING DOWN THE GAUNTLET
I heard Obama as he reeled off these "liberal" broadsides today.
Kevin Drum does some hard work and parses them out for us. He also does the dirty work of tuning into Fox to hear the revulsion.
Obama Gets Political, Kelly Clarkson Wows 'Em
Here is what he picked out.
"...when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it"
...through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security — these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers" (a slap at Mitt's 47%)
...."Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote"
"Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms."
Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm. "
He also talked about the march forward from Selma and included Stonewall. A dollop of inclusion in the rhetoric that has not been there before.
It was a pretty short, moving speech.
You ought to listen to it.
And Kelly Clarkson had a lot of trouble with the sound mix, battled with the big band. She did a great job, as did Beyonce, but the broadcast quality was off.
For my money, the best music was James Taylor "America". Two stanzas and chorus. Guitar only.
Labels: gay history, gay rights, Re-election of Barack Obama
GAMBLING LIFE
Today's film was
with Clive Owen as an author who goes back to a previous line of work to get material for a novel.
The work consumes him and his relationships as much as if he was a professional gambler. Which he reminds us frequently he is not. "I don't gamble".
Just on life.
We saw this when it came out and liked it and Owen very much. He was not well known then and has since had a modest career as a lead actor in many films.
The story is interesting but it is the characterization that makes the film work as well as Owen's performance as a convincing hand at the blackjack and roulette tables.
It was worth seeing it again. It had come to mind in some odd way and I put it in the queue. I am glad that I did.
Being seen over and over makes it a 5 out of Netflix5. But I think this might be the last time which makes it a virtual 3.
Labels: films
THRILLING
I just finished watching the Inauguration.
Everything was just great. And it was over in an hour!
I won't go on and on about it.
John says it was "simple and elegant". Exactly.
You know, I have mentioned, that the Inaugural Poem was by Richard Blanco, a gay poet of Cuban extraction. An engineer as well!
Who said that "tools" didn't have an artistic heart.
He was great.
Labels: Re-election of Barack Obama
Sunday, January 20, 2013
MORE STAN
I just found this.
Stan Musial played in 24 All Star games, tied with Willy Mays for the record.
He was one of the greatest hitters in baseball history -- long before the game had been permanently trashed with the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
DEAR ABBY
I thought of this when she died earlier this week but it didn't seem appropriate to post it at the time. Her bein' a heroine and all.
She would probably love it. I am sure she did in its time.
John Prine.
OK. ABOUT GUNS
What do I think?
Did anyone ask?
I have struggled some with this.
I grew up in a gun-house.
My Dad hunted along with all his friends. In our town, country more or less totally, most people had guns and hunted. The kids in school.
I don't recall how many guns in the house. Not too many, I think. A simple 22 one shot which was my Dad's but which he gave to me. A deer rifle. Maybe 2 of those, but I don't think so. One of them, at least, had a clip which held bullets but you had to cock the gun or something between each firing. Later, a pistol.
I was not a gun boy. Not interested. I played the cowboys and indian thing. I was pretty good at it. I was mostly averse to hunting and didn't want to kill anything. My Dad did instruct me on the care and keeping of guns. I took the 22 out for a walk every once in a while to hunt squirrels but I never really tried to shoot anything. I never was interested at all in target shooting.
Absolutely no hunting. I wouldn't even eat game meat. A rebellion I suppose. Also, according to friends' stories, a typical gay boy being a gay boy.
Later, in college I went to ROTC. Quartermaster. The least gun totin' Corps of all. All defensive, behind the lines unless the lines caught up with the cooks and the supply depots.
To be an officer one had to qualify on the rifle range. I couldn't hit shit.
I qualified because my friends pulling the targets "pencilled" me in. Meaning they punched the targets with their pencil to make holes where there weren't any.
I was never, ever even near a combat situation.
Later, much later, in life, when my Dad died, I got his guns.
I gave the deer rifle away immediately to my cousin Jim.
I kept the 22 rifle and the pistol and registered them in Boston. I kept them in our house.
Their presence burned in my head and heart. I was afraid of them. In the sense that if I was ever to need them, to use them, I would draw the fire of any intruder. I was convinced that I was better off un-armed than armed. With a firearm, I would draw fire. Without, not so much.
I still believe that.
Finally, I gave both weapons to one of my sons. I have no idea where they are now. Frankly I hope that they are gone.
I guess that personal and life experience tells me that weapons draw violence to them. In the hands of a hunter or a target shooter (why?) they may be one thing but in any other context they draw trouble.
When I was a kid, a cousin, hunting with some other guys, leaned on his gun and shot himself in the abdomen. Killed him. The gun slipped or something and went off. Dumb? Sure. But typical. You read about such accidents all the time.
When I had those guns in the house, it was after I had little kids around. Actually, there were no kids around. Just two adults. Males. Sort of trained to use the guns. But still, they called to me. I thought about them. I worried that someone would find them. Shit. I just had to get them out.
Now. What about other people having them?
I don't know.
That's right. I don't know.
I do actually believe that guns don't kill people, people do.
Yes. I bought the NRA party line in that respect.
I do not think there should be any automatic weapons out there. But there are. What to do?
Surely, they are also right when they claim that the people who are nutty will never surrender their guns. But what about the "good" people who think that they need to have them "for protection". Protection from who? What?
There is a whole spectrum of paranoia about this from the honest desire to have something in the house to ward against intruders to a belief that you need to have guns to protect yourself from the government. The socialists. The blacks. The browns. The unknowns.
So. How about a gun law?
More power to them.
The US takes a bad rap for having so many firearms. Like no other country has this problem. Tell that to any Palestinian or Russian or even in peaceful Norway to the young people felled by the crazy guy on that island.
It is just there. Inherent evil. How do you defang it?
I do not know.
I know that for me, it will continue to be no guns, no how, no way. And I will support people who will work on the problem like Obama wants to do.
The NRA who, at one time, was at least respectable, has gone over the bend. Spit flecked rhetoric.
The patriots? Watch out.
The ones I worry about are the Bachmans and Palins of the world. All hyped on fear and rhetoric and ready to charge ahead.
Labels: gun control, whack jobs
AaaAaaRrrrRG gGGGGGGGHhh hhhsssssss
Today's film is the remake of
I don't do remakes but I made an exception as I did not see the original and it got good reviews for its tongue in cheek or tooth in neck humor.
It is still scary. And tense.
But the success of the film rests on the performance of its stars particularly, get ready, Colin Farrell who is just this side of over the top evil and droll at the same time.
He keeps the lifted eyebrow and the knowing looks down to a minimum and is severely menacing. Sexy menacing. He doesn't just attack people, he does it with a kind of lustful lunge.
The rest of the cast including Toni Collette are up to Farrell's level.
The most satisfying performance is the teen hero. Anton Yelchin. Just great.
David Tennant, who is new to me, plays the Vegas magician who comes to the aid of the party. A vampire expert. And drunk.
There is also a turn by the funny kid with the funny name, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, but there is just a little bit too much of him. A little goes a long way.
I liked it. It was fun. I got what I came for.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Saturday, January 19, 2013
THE MAN
A hero*.
Stan Musial, One of the Game’s Greatest Hitters, Dies at 92
Stan the Man.
It seems that he has been around all my life and, of course, that is damn near the case.
I always liked him, secretly, because he was the only well known man, at the time, who had the same name as my middle name which I didn't want anyone to know. Now I do not care.
Other than that, me being a quasi baseball fan, I mostly appreciated his manners and personal charm.
A gentleman.
I remember that the last I saw him was when he went to the White House for Obama to pin a Medal of Freedom on his chest.
“There is only one way to pitch to Musial — under the plate,” Leo Durocher, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodger and New York Giant teams that Musial often victimized, once said.
* a hero has hit 90 years of age and is personally admired
INSEMINATE ME
Today's movie was Jonathan Lisecki's
Everything I knew before I saw this said that it would be a cringe inducing exercise in sideways homophobia. But nothing could be further from the truth.
This is a funny comedy with great acting by a very attractive and expert ensemble. The direction is sharp. The humor is hilarious and very on target. LOL-time. And not one offensive jibe or word or utterance.
I want to see it again. I just ordered my own copy.
Best friends decide to have a baby. The male half of the friends is gay. This requires some gymnastics which are, yes, cringe inducing, but in a good way. Funny. Nice. Respectful even. And funny.
There are problems of course. There are a few side stories. There are great lovable characters where you feel safe at all times. Nothing bad is going to happen here and people will treat each other with a great kindness. Most of the time.
And the situation is not out of reach logically. It even happens all the time. We just don't get to see inside the machinations of how it all works out.
I have known a few guys who got to be daddies this way. One or two gave up parental rights but others kept them and there was more than one happy ending for all concerned.
It is just that when you set out to do something like this it is not possible to foresee some of the twists and turns that are likely to occur.
While the focus is on the awkward arrangements between the best friends, there is some nice gay sex to look at and even the straight guys are good to ogle.
Lisecki, himself, plays a dishy friend who has the classical queen's mouth on him and he is slick and hilarious.
A definite 5 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
YOU GOT MY ATTENTION
The other day, I did a post about spices and I put up a photo of McCormick blends, the combined mystery ingredients that make up things like Montreal Steak and Mesquite Smoked. Grill Mates, they are called.
Today, I went to Amazon and ordered a DVD and a book. Never mind what. Nothing about spice certainly.
And there, right under my order in the "shopping cart" were shown the very same spices, sold in combo. Grill Mates.
One. I have never ordered these spices from Amazon.
Two. The spices had absolutely nothing to do with the DVD or the book I bought.
Someone is cross pollinating.
They said this would happen. There is a term for it. Data mining.
It has never happened to me so blatantly.
I don't like it.
But whatcha gonna do?
There it is.
Everything I put on the web will go into whatever else gets put into the web and when it comes out, there will be me.
I am not aware that there is any connection between Amazon and Blogger, or rather Google. Well. Not aware.
Not thinking more like it.
The millennium.
It is interesting that there is not more crossover like this. But look for it. If they can catch my temporary interest in on-line images of spice and plug it into my book and dvd purchase, they can and will connect anything.
OFFICIAL PORTRAITS
It seems a bit weird that the most photographed person in the world would also have an "official" second term portrait by the same White House photographer, Pete Souza, who has taken thousands of shots already.
But here it is.
And he is radiant.
What a great photo. Great man.
Here is the one for the first term from 2009.
Somehow not as much bang as the one they took last week. The job must agree with him.
Labels: Barack Obama, Re-election of Barack Obama
Friday, January 18, 2013
MENAGE
Today's film was a film version of a stage play
Highly stylized, two men meet, one gay one straight (more or less) and connect with each other.
One thing leads to another and, in the process, we explore the idea of platonic love and carnal love.
Not as stiff and formal as a lecture about the same subject of course, as the men fall in love.
The play/film is short and sweet and has a number of nice moments. Gorgeous idyllic sex.
The end is a bit contrived and the transition of the straight man a little pat but what the hell.
It is an enduring fantasy for gay men to believe that in every straight man there is a gay side wanting to come out. This is probably not too far from the truth for some men passing as straight but in general, a fantasy held in vain.
This film starts in that position but goes in a different direction entirely. This is a refreshing and interesting change.
"Just say love" is a line from Plato and is used extensively and with different meanings throughout.
The guys are pretty good actors and nice to look at.
I am glad that I saw it and wouldn't mind seeing it again. Maybe I will include it in our collection. Maybe as I "think" about it. I guess I am playing hard to get like one of the guys. Or both.
A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Thursday, January 17, 2013
FLEW AWAY
I am probably jinxing things with this but I like it enough to put it up.
Many friends are down with the flu.
John had some symptoms that might be regarded as flu like but not anything like the shit that some people have gotten.
I hug and kiss indiscriminately. I hold and shake hands.
I get a flu shot every fall.
And I spent my life in planes and in other cities with mobs of people getting breathed on constantly so I have a lot of antibodies.
That makes me in the slice with the other assholes who do not get it. So far.
Labels: health
FISHY
Well, this is a kick in the ass.
Or, rather, it brought me back to my senses.
I always figured that diet supplement claims were bogus. I was also bothered that nothing sold by the supplement people is actually FDA tested.
But little by little I succumbed to the "pressure" and did add some supplements to my diet.
One of these was "fish oil" capsules as guilt compensation for the fact that we do not eat or like much fish. Well, some. Crab in crab cakes maybe. Salmon. Yeh, really guilty here, fish sticks? We love 'em.
Here is the latest incoming.
Sad Story of Fish Oils and Small Sample Sizes
So another diet myth bites the dust.
I have already quit the supplemental calcium that Men's Health told me to take. No effect and possibly dangerous if you drink a lot of milk. We do. Skim.
I also use biotin for my nails. But after years of using it, my nails still break or split from time to time. Less? Can't know.
I use oldster vitamins. I have always used vitamins although I know that I have a good diet and probably don't need them.
Honestly that is it. So I am not pill crazy.
So, I suppose I will quit the fish oil capsules. They are a little pricey, the GNC brand.
Nothing but the best even if it is useless.
Actually, this article is about sample size but I already knew that. I just haven't really paid any attention to it when making choices for myself.
PARTY ON
Today's film was the Danish
Festen / The Celebration (1998)
A father's birthday. Family and friends gather 'round.
Toasts.
The Danes are big with toasts and drinking up. Skoal!
Family truths will out.
And they do here.
This film is made according to Dogme 1 principles which means, mostly, no artificial light, all location shooting, handheld cameras. No frills.
This makes for some woozy watching from the very beginning but has the effect of swirling us up into the frantic party goings on.
At first, it is funny. Then not. Then almost like a thriller. What is truth. What is insanity. What is drunken raving. All comes up for examination.
I saw this before. It is a 5 out of Netflix5. I will see it again when I cool down in a couple of years. I put it at the end of the queue again.
Labels: films
SNOWBIRDS
We have new neighbors. Temporarily.
Our next door neighbor vacates his house for two months each year and rents out to snowbirds.
It is none of our business and they are quiet folks but it is an odd displacement to see strangers on the next door patio.
Last year I made a little bit of a fuss about meeting the temps.
They were kind of weirded out by my "hello"s.
Not this year. These people are from Saskatchewan. I am just going to assume that they don't speak the language.
I can wave. Smile. Put out friendly vibes. End of story.
Jim will be back in March.
HEROINE
Dear Abby died today.
Pauline Phillips, Flinty Adviser to Millions as Dear Abby, Dies at 94
I remember when she came on the scene. A new voice in manners but also in social affairs and politics.
I do believe that "Abby" added to the momentum toward gay rights. I think that she provided a ballast through the stormy sailing of the 60s and 70s.
She was a strong liberal heart. Sensible and kind.
I might not always agree with her but just in her choice of questions to answer, she was a significant voice toward growth and change.
Her lights dimmed a while ago with the onset of Alzheimers so there is a good chance that she ended by not knowing who she was.
But when the lights were on, she knew and was willing to stand up for her beliefs no matter what. Straight from the shoulder.
HARDY
I have mentioned that this is the coldest winter we have had here in Palm Springs.
Of course, to Southern Californians, anything less than 60 is cool to cold. Freezing is something you take a short vacation to witness but not to live in full time.
In the 16 years we have been here, I have become a native.
I have quit wearing shorts all year long. The jeans go on in November and will stay there until, what, maybe March.
The blood thins. The tolerance to cool decreases.
The goose bump ratio rises. Or does it lower?
Yesterday it was in the low 60s so, as Booker and I left the house for our PM walk, I had on my fleece jacket. Maybe a bit much when we left in the sun but necessary on the return lap as the warming sun goes behind the mountain. Not really "sets". More that it is hidden.
As we went by the complex' pool, I heard splashing and happy voices.
What?
There have been no poolers in weeks.
What happened?
Ahhhh.
Lessees.
It is high season and the one month, two month people are here. Some are obviously "illegals" meaning less than a month which is prohibited in the HOA rules, nevertheless, we do have outlaws from time to time.
Anyway, these people, many from places like Michigan and Wisconsin, are in the water. Splashing.
Actually, in the water is not too bad. They keep the temp at 85F. But when you get out it is cooooold.
One can dunk into the spa which is at a coolish 100 degrees but, sooner or later, wet, there will have to be a reckoning of the reality of the air.
Wait!
I remember.
We used to be these people. More renters than leasers at a local hotel, more like a small apartment but still a hotel.
We were the ones out there in the water when the owners of the hotel had on sweaters and long pants.
If you come here with the thick blood of the north then it doesn't much matter whether it is cold by Palm Springs standards. Compared to home it is torrid.
So, into the pool. Lie in the sun. Enjoy.
Actually, during the day in the sun you will be getting 80-90 degree effect on your body. If there is no wind. And even if there is a breeze, the sun warms as no other sun can outside the desert. No humidity to filter the rays. Warm warm.
But, as for me and my thin blood, I will not be in the pool any time soon.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
VOWELS
I had forgotten about this. Ed Kilgore hasn't though.
The Atlanta DJ who first played this song within my hearing sarcastically called it “the love song of the 80s.” It was also the first U.S. single ever recorded entirely on a computer. Here’s Ebn Ozn with the 1983 classic, “AEIOU, Sometimes Y.” It’s devilishly infectious, I fear.
Question is whether at the end the two guys are holding hands. Probably not. It was the 80s.
TIME OUT OF JOINT
Today's film was Christopher Nolan's first film
in which he plays with time in "preparation" for his momentous Memento.
In a bit of Raymond Chandlerish finagling, Bill, a mild manner introvert who follows people for kicks, gets involved with a smooth operator burglar who catches the following out.
Complications ensue, complicated by the out of order sequence of the scenes. A chronological version is provided if you so desire.
It is not as complex as one might expect because it is a first try, I think. Broad appearance clues tell us where we are. Bill's dilemma is not really hidden by the mechanics. If anything, they are a bit distracting.
I didn't mind.
The story is not trite but it is not very original when placed end to end. Bill is an obvious victim type from the beginning and he does get played.
I am glad that I saw it and that is that.
Nolan did the "battle of the magicians" film The Prestige that I enjoyed some then went on to the Batman trilogy which does not interest me.
This film gets a 3 out of Netflix5. Maybe a 2 as it is almost instantly forgettable. Beginning to fade as I type this.
Next is, sigh, yet another edition of Superman. That sort of closes out Chris Nolan doesn't it? He is off into a land I will not follow.
Labels: films
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
BLENDSHIP
The obsolete "spices" really talks to another issue. The use of seasoning blends instead of going to basics. Why buy McCormick's "Italian Seasoning" when I could mix my own oregano, basil and whatever else is in the mix?
Are you kidding?
I don't even want to look at what is in the mixes.
I may have done my own blending at one time but those days are over.
Not only do I use the blends already mentioned but I am a total sucker for McCormick's meat mixes. There are some smoked flavor things, a hamburger blend, a Montreal steak and or chicken mixes.
I have maybe seven or eight of these standing by.
I notice that they have "rubs" in the same blends. A line extension.
This is going a bit far although I have used their marinade blends to good effect.I don't know what ingredients are in any of these items. Perhaps some are, gasp, artificial like the smokes.
I think that, as in a lot of areas, the taste discrimination many of us have, ages out.
Mine has.
Also true is that by using the preset blends I have reset my flavor preferences to the mean.
Labels: cooking
THE SPICE OF LIFE
The other day, I realized that my chili powder was a year off date.
I looked at some of the other items on the little shelf John built for me over the stove.
Ditto the Madras Curry Powder, the Old Bay Fish Seasoning, the Herbes de Provence and the pepper corns (so old I couldn't read the date).
How could this happen? How did I not notice?
Probably because I don't use much of this stuff very often. Curry every two months on the dinner menu cycle. No chili powder these days as most of the latin food I get is pre-spiced. Yes. Sorry. The fish seasoning? Basically a disappointment. I use the herbes or, to be honest, Mrs. Dash the salt replacement spice. Traditional. A 20 year tradition I think.
I am a big date checker when I buy shit. Not so much once it is in the house.
How old are your spices?
When we cleaned my mother's house out she had spices from so long ago there were no dates. Old logo A&P brands.
People in the "olden days" were oblivious to stuff like that. She even kept the oleo out of the refrigerator so it was spreadable. Eeeek. But it didn't make any difference. Oleo is oleo. Not much can happen to it. Butter would never stand for it.
Ingredients.
I know there are more superannuated things lurking around. Gotta keep my eyes open for them.
Labels: cooking
METRORETRO
Today's movie was Morgan Spurlock's documentary
Silly and superficial and fun.
This shortish documentary takes a look at male plumage in many of its forms. Facial hair, hair hair, non-hair, cosmetics, all the shit that men are doing to look good and possibly feel good.
It is interesting that despite the presence of actual gay men as talking heads there is very little talk about gay men and their weird practices at all. Mostly about straight butch guys who are trying to embellish their manly presentation to the ladies.
The tables have been turned.
There is one instance where a guy says "attractive to men or women" in a kind of grudging acknowledgment of gay attraction.
Very little of this is serious or even meant to be. Mostly it is funny, sometimes hilariously so. In the true spirit of a modern documentary there is no critical commentary. Just show and tell.
I cannot say that I came away from this with any information that would be of any use at all except for one thing.
I realized that many guys wear a colored or patterned t-shirt under a regular collared short or long sleeved shirt. I will want to do more than that. Clothes are not once mentioned. Well, a bit.
Mostly it is a bunch of guys having fun. Or we have fun watching the guys make asses of themselves.
No. I would not want to see this again but I am sort of glad I saw it once. It is sort of a long teevee program.
What don't they show? Shaving the bush. Nothing about piercing, not even ears. Nothing about clothes. I said that.
Nothing about gyms, trainers, muscles. Nothing about cosmetic surgery.
They did talk about me. Facial hair, mustaches, body shaving and that most of this is really to please one's self.
I did like the toupee part. I recently ran into a guy who is fairly open about having a hair piece and it is so good it is impossible to tell that is what it is. It even has some kinda spare spaces. Little hairs that stick up, not perfect.
See? I can go on and on. It is obvious that I got a lot out of this film. Like a lot of guys I just wouldn't want to admit it.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
Oh. One more line I went for:
"Real men don't tweet".
Labels: films
Monday, January 14, 2013
DE PANTS IN BOSTON NO LESS
Annual edition.
It took place in 60 cities, actually. The same day. January 12.
Labels: fun
TIMES REMEMBERED
Today's film was Christophe Honoré's
Les bien-aimés / Beloved (2011)
Thirty years of love and relationship are shown with Catherine Deneuve as the star attraction. The french is "the beloved" which is more plural and descriptive of the picture. Manyt relationships.
The same singing treatment is given here as in Honoré's Love Songs which was so dear to us and still is.
This is a much larger, sprawling story and is, for the most part, quite as enjoyable.
The cast is superb, some from the previous film and including the surprise performance of the director Milos Forman and aged version of Deneuve's first love.
The songs fold right in as part of the action, monologue or dialogue. It is a nice technique. No dancing in the streets.
The frustration of love between a straight woman and a gay man is included in the variety of affairs and involvements. In Love Songs, the whole point of the story was gay fulfillment between a reluctant but willing "straight" man and a gay man. Less complicated. There is a lot more "triste" in this one.
This film is also a bit disjointed as a result of the scope. More people, more complications. But it is brought together nicely at the end. I liked the film and don't want to compare the two. Now that I have. I would not mind seeing this one again although it is not a must. A 4 out of Netflix5. Labels: films
Sunday, January 13, 2013
BONDS
Today's movie was the documentary
As part of their mustang program, the Bureau of Land Management sponsors a contest in which 100 horse trainers get 100 raw mustangs to train as far as they can in 100 days.
This film follows nine of the trainers, some pro, mostly amateur and their horses from the day of arrival to the final days of the competition.
A familiar doc arc, the contest, the prep, the winners, with an unusual subject.
The whole thing is random selection going in and, going out, the mustangs will be sold at auction to the highest bidder with the trainer having the same chance to bid as any member of the public.
Not all the trainers can afford it.
A study in horses, a study of human and animal bonding and a study of devotion.
I liked this a lot. There were a lot of happy tears. Bittersweet ending. These people, and the horses, obviously love what they do.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
Saturday, January 12, 2013
THIS IS GREAT
The Obama's response to the on-line petition to fund a Death Star. Someone had some fun.
OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE RESPONSETO Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.
This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For
By Paul Shawcross
The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons:
The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.
The Administration does not support blowing up planets.
Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?
However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky -- that's no Moon, it's a Space Station! Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations. The Space Station has six astronauts -- American, Russian, and Canadian -- living in it right now, conducting research, learning how to live and work in space over long periods of time, routinely welcoming visiting spacecraft and repairing onboard garbage mashers, etc. We've also got two robot science labs -- one wielding a laser -- roving around Mars, looking at whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.
Keep in mind, space is no longer just government-only. Private American companies, through NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO), are ferrying cargo -- and soon, crew -- to space for NASA, and are pursuing human missions to the Moon this decade.
Even though the United States doesn't have anything that can do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs, we've got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we're building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.
We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the Space Station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers.
We are living in the future! Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field. The President has held the first-ever White House science fairs and Astronomy Night on the South Lawn because he knows these domains are critical to our country's future, and to ensuring the United States continues leading the world in doing big things.
If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us! Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
Paul Shawcross is Chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House Office of Management and Budget
Tell us what you think about this response and We the People.
Labels: Administration Obama, fun, space
THE GOOD NEWS
The christers like to talk about the "good news". Well, look at this.
Non Believers on Rise in Congress
Granted this is only 10 people but it is also 10 people who are willing to be counted as "nones".
Based on my own experience of expedient christians, especially in the political arena, this is quite high.
I really don't care one way or another about who is and who is not a christian. Or who is or who is not an ardent religious of any kind.
I am more interested in how they act on it.
There is a wide range of beliefs that can easily be accommodated without making a noise about it.
Take me, for example. I believe in God, a Higher Power, but I don't have a religious bone in my body. They were all removed in my youth as a methodist and later on as I worked in various church's music program. A paid worker.
I have heard and seen more phony baloney in the pulpit and in the pews than most observers. Every Sunday and sometimes more for maybe ten years when I was really into it. Part time before that.
I played for them all regardless of creed, even the Unitarians who barely have one. Well, humanism, but that doesn't take too much mumbo jumbo to get it going.
The thing is that Congress is still out of whack with the population. Take a look at the imbalance in 2008.
There are way more "nones" in the public at large than in Congress.
But then again, I bet that it is similar in the actual practice of the politicians.
And, actually, I think the figure for "nones" is low. Many people when asked will lie toward having a belief than to say they do not.
OK.
It has been awhile since I wrote about this disparity and the tendency toward religious pandering. That is it for awhile.
Labels: christist watch
THIS IS FUNNY
Paul Krugman Explains Why He Didn't Really Want the Treasury Job Anyway
Actually, more than amusing. Astonishing.
The funny thing is that no one here seems to realize why it is astonishing.
That is the idea the idea that Krugman would even be considered for the job.
The thing about this economic wunderkind is that he he has an astonishingly large and fragile ego.
He pissed the Obamas off long, long ago with his strident criticism.
A lot of lefties dote on Krugman's words and opinions. Not me.
I think he always has another agenda that has more with Paul Krugman's prominence than any other thing.
I also think that he is frequently wrong in his opinions.
Sure, there is that Nobel on his fireplace mantle but as a human being he lacks a certain humility. Or is it that he is just a shitty politician?
This guy kinds of kicks K's ass while he sits on the same stage. And yes, it is boring as shit.
Labels: economy
AROUND THE WORLD
Big surprise today.
Somehow, I missed that my new iMac has the so called "widgets" on it just like my old computer did. Actually it is the system that has them. Now Mountain Lion.
As a result, I can put up a weather update and a time conversion for Melbourne, Australia where son Dave has gone for the duration.
The weather, of course, is summer and not nearly as hot as I thought it would be. Didn't they just add two colors to their weather chart to take care of rising temps?
The time is a bit more problematic in that one must not only correct for time difference but for the day as well.
It is Sunday there today.
But now I have a clock showing Melbourne time.
It is not so much that I need to know the time and the weather but it gives me a sense of being in touch.
I also have a weather widget for the Boston's South Shore. I know the time. Easy three hours later.
I suppose I could also get headlines from the papers there but that is going a bit too far*.
For now, it is enough to know the time and temps.
*Actually, after I wrote this, I went and bookmarked the local paper. When he moves to Canberra I will change it over for the capitol.
Labels: geopolitics
THREE WAY
Today's film was Lynn Shelton's
with Mark DuPlass, Rosemarie DeWitt and Emily Blunt.
Great acting in an unconventional story about a best friend who gets sent to his best friend's father's island off Seattle to get himself together only to find his best friend's sister already in residence.
Indie enjoyment. Not a Hollywood product.
Confused feelings ensue which bring long held in emotions to the fore.
A piece of superb ensemble acting. When one of them is not on the screen the missing one is part of the action if you know what I mean. It feels very real.
The photography in this film is astoundingly beautiful. Part of this is the iMac screen that I am watching on. I am close, it is big and it is brilliant. The Puget Sound weather helps. Foggy and brilliant and watery and birds. All around. Almost shocking.
It is also beautiful because this is all digital and while this was filmed in a very short period on an extremely tight budget they get an enormous bang for their buck. Credit the cinematographer who must have decided to take nature shots while he was waiting for the actors to suit up.
This is not a great movie but it is a moving story and the characters are refreshingly unique as well as nicely engaged with one another.
A 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
SANDWICH SIGN
The sign flipper, the second post down from here, reminded me of a bit of personal history.
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by pictures of guys walking around with "sandwich signs".
These were poor guys who restaurants and stores would hire to walk around the city with their ads. Cheap labor.
I wanted to be one of those guys.
I never saw one. Not in New York, not in Boston and not in any other place.
I think they were a product of the depression. Guys desperate for work and tough times selling anything.
In fact, a lot of them were advertising themselves, looking for a job.
I don't think there were any tricks to be done with these signs. Just walking around.
Perhaps that was the appeal. It seemed like a simple task to carry out and, quite importantly, I could be the focus of attention as everyone looked my way.
Some guys used them to advertise their need for a job.
You can still buy a sandwich board to make a sign so someone, somewhere, must be doing it.
Labels: history
Friday, January 11, 2013
AMAZINGLY SWEET
This is one reason it might be good to have two dogs. One older, another younger.
Watch this.
You can turn the sound off. Why do people have to "talk" while they are doing video?
Labels: dogs
FLIPPER
We have sign flippers but nothing like this. To say nothing of the robotic man.
Labels: fun. music
BOOKED
Today's movie time was booked by a visit to the Vet for Book.
Doctor Cutler.
We wanted to ask about his "stiffness" and to have a general look at his health.
First, he got weighed. Oh oh. 6-7 pounds over his fighting limit.
Back to the old 1.5 cups per meal twice a day.
Next, the stiffness. Not bad to have been giving him some aspirin. Another anti-inflammatory might be better. Will do a blood test to see if the aspirin is causing any trouble or if, conversely, there is any reason he cannot do another milder, possibly, med. She notes that his front legs are a bit stiffer on extension than his back ones. Heart OK. Ears normally slightly infected. So are mine. So are yours. Keep on with the regular application of ear drops every one or two weeks. All in all he did pretty well. We got a bottle of Flagyl pills to use if he has a case of the runs. We used to use it for Franklin and it was outstanding. It is a targeted antibiotic. Works fast. This time we remembered to take a stool sample. We will hear results of the bloods and the stools tomorrow. So. There went an hour and a half and 360 dollars. Labels: Booker, veterinarian
BROWN BALANCED
What Arnold could only talk about, Gerry has done. With the help of a lot of agencies and now, a supermajority in the legislature.
California Balances Its BudgetWhen we moved here, California was still the land of the golden cow. All tits on full flow.
Then, the recession and overspending and a refusal to up the ante on taxes. Because California is also the land of Prop 2 1/2 and the Arnold recision of the auto registration fees. A big source of income in this automotive state.
Then trouble. Schools unfunded. Deficits. Pain.
Gridlock in the legislature and in the government at large.
Then Brown. A new era.
He said he would do it and he has.
We actually voted "yes" to a new tax to help the guv' out. Prop 30. Sold as a solution for the underfunded school systems.
Now black ink. Brown and black. A good color combination.
Good news.
Labels: California
Thursday, January 10, 2013
LOOKING FOR TROUBLE
Today's film was Matthieu Kassovitz'
Three french hoods from the outside Paris ghetto walk the streets and, as in a road movie, encounter all kinds of mischief, looking for trouble. They eventually find it.
Framed in the midst of the riots of some years ago, the theme is alienation.
This is also a'buddy" film. A black guy, an arab guy and a white wasp guy, Vincent Cassel in one of his first film roles.
Sometimes funny, always suspenseful. Run-ins with the cops, other gang bangers, odd friends, the pace is fast and sometimes furious.
I enjoyed the process if not the outcome which is foretold.
Great black and white cinematography. Covers one day in the life of these guys. Over and out.
A 3 out of Netflix5. I am a great Cassel fan.
Labels: films
FREE ELECTRIC TODAY
Another cold front slamming into the west coast brings an end to our two days of warm weather and takes us down the scale to, what they say will be, 40s day temps before the end of the week.
High winds. Sand storms out north and ugly looking but beautiful clouds show us the change up.
I have battened down the few hatches we need to worry about.
The umbrella that filters light to the succulent plants is folded. The doors are all closed. Not much to do to protect the plants except put them down on the concrete. I am not sure I will go that far or not.
Weird winter weather in the land of the sun.
This shows the windfarm north of town as well as a heavily snow covered mountain range. Another winter, another wind. We don't have this much snow right now.
Labels: climate change, season, weather
OLDIE
They played this at the gym this morning. It came through loud and clear through the earplugs. I took them out to listen.
It reached #7 on the charts in 1999.
I guess that makes it an oldie. 14 years?
Still good.
Labels: fun. music
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
NO SHOW
Today's movie was a haircut. It takes the same time slot.
I had a good time.
I didn't used to.
I hated to sit still and accept the care and ministrations.
Now, I just relax.
I even felt reluctant to leave today.
I get the long cut.
But not this long.
It will be a slim movie week. I will see one tomorrow and then Friday Booker will take us to see his vet for some general checkup stuff. Maybe some discussion of his stiffness. Medication?
LAND OF THE FREE, HOME OF THE WHACKO AND CRADLE OF IGNORANCE
Evolution Less Accepted in U.S. Than Other Western Countries, Study Finds
Source=: National Geographic
Labels: christist watch, whack jobs
CENTURY updated
Today is Richard Nixon's 100th Birthday.
This man dominated most or much of my life, politically speaking.
I first saw him when I worked in Philadelphia and he and Kennedy were touring/trolling for votes.
In those days there were street parades. None of this is really done now. Security.
Even then, he was the most awkward of men, physically. He slouched and waved funny. His eye contact was weird.
You could feel his own discomfort with himself. Palpable.
The five oclock shadow was a real thing.
I also saw Kennedy in the flesh. He was not as "heroic" as he tended to look in the photos as the camera was quite kind to him. The camera hated Dick Nixon. So that Nixon looked shifty even in real life was probable proof that he was and not the camera's fault.
This was not the beginning of Nixon.
We knew he was a red baiter from the beginning as a Congressman. 1946. I was 11 or 12.
In my house, a rock solid Roosevelt Democratic household, Nixon was thought to be a menace to society. My Dad. And he was right about the man.
So, look. It is 22 years from that time until he is President and then another 17 years after he was impeached in 1974.
A weasel of a man.
He tried to reclaim himself but not many of us would have any of it.
The thing that is funny is that Nixon won by a landslide in 1972. Did you know that? He started the EPA, he went to China and ended the years of our isolating them, launched initiatives to fight cancer and illegal drugs, imposed wage and price controls, enforced desegregation of some Southern schools and generally did a number of things that were good. Things that today would probably disqualify him from the Republican Party.
Tim Stanley says:
There was a Nixon for every season: anticommunist hawk, peacemaker, liberal, conservative demagogue, race baiter, civil rights reformer. The second half of the 20th century was the Age of Nixon because no politician was better at adapting to suit its whims. Were he alive today, he’d be both a Tea Party favourite and Obama’s nominee for Secretary of State.
Labels: Republicans
