esrosedotblog

No movies for awhile as I watch the first disc of the fourth season of Big Bang Theory.

Surely you do not want to read about each and every episode and I chew through it at three or four episodes a day.

Labels: television

I have been to the Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA.

It was a trip in time. Very nice.

Now this:Shaker Village Finds Enterprise Is Not So Simple

Preservation is a tricky business and I do mean business.

This is probably why it is most often done on a smaller scale.

This village is huge. A lot of employees. A major enterprise in a small town.

The Shakers are still right about keeping it simple.

There is nothing special about this result. It is a common outcome. At some juncture it is necessary to bring government into the process otherwise they are totally dependent on donations and admissions. Ups and downs.

The question of whether it is worth it arises.

My answer is yes. Unqualified. There is a deep experience here waiting anyone who goes. And a message about "keeping it simple". A good thing with a downside.

The Shakers were totally isolated and now this is not the case. The creepy consequences of capital come in and show their unforgiving side. The tyranny of the balance sheet. Balanced.

Labels: economics, history

Back to the Urgent Care with my bunged up elbow.

They removed the big bandage. Replaced with big butterflies.

It is healing.

I will have to clean and re-bandage the wound and then see them in 8-10 days. Eight to ten, properly written up to the teens then digits are used. More rules here.

So, back in eight to ten days.

It is healing nicely and they took off the bandaged cover and replaced that with a big butterfly.

I am to clean and recover daily until they see me again.

Gotta go buy the equipment!

Labels: medical

I had a hard time with today's movie.

Senna (2010)

a documentary about Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna.

I don't know much about auto racing and the film doesn't do a lot to inform but we can learn a lot by watching life go by. And death.

It is a dramatic story, he was quite attractive and charismatic, and he died with his boots on.

I couldn't stay until the end because it was just too hard to watch. A constant foreboding.

Not my kind of film.

That makes it a 1 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

I fell over a “blind” parking slab this morning and contused my upper left arm.

I am sure it is the slab’s fault.

I was getting to the air machine at the gas station and this thing, a bumper, was there to protect the machine. Not me.

I went to urgent care for cleaning and looking and they put in four stitches.

It does not hurt.

It is clean. The contusion is rather wide.

They are over cautious but I will follow directions including a course of antibiotic.

I go back for a look on Wednesday and a removal of stitches in two weeks.

The last injury like this was when I walked into an open drawer in the kitchen this summer.

I hope this is not a trend. I have to think it is related to old age somehow. Whether it is or not is besides the point. I am not going to get younger.

I could get more careful.

Labels: injury

There is no limit to the christian sense of persecution.

Something as innocuous as a celebration of Isaac Newton's birth which happened to fall on the day chosen to celebrate Jesus' birth. It has become a thing. Again.

Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains His Controversial Christmas Day Tweet

Not His birthday incidentally. A symbol.

But Newton was real and he has had a material effect on every aspect of our lives. He did have a birth day and this is it.

Of course, someone named Jesus was born and written about extensively but his curriculum vitae is lost in the sands of time.

The christians most often fail to see the limits of their spiritual beliefs. Newton had faith in the scientific method. Had he seen other aspects of his studies he would have changed his reports. Unlike the jesus people who refuse to change anything and call that faith. Some would call it pure ignorance.

Me for example.

It would be more frustrating if it didn't create a nice discussion in which thousands of thinkers will be introduced to Newton's ideas and, perhaps, become a little more skeptical of theologians coopt of the Jesus figure. Or symbol. Or person. See? There is no way out of the rabbit hole if the rabbit is sitting on the top of the entrance.

It amazes me that we cannot have a clear discussion of factual truth without the christers getting their pants in a twist.

Me? In the first weeks of my education at MIT I reproduced Newton's experiments in frosh physics lab.

They gave us the chance to disprove his work. Now that is education where the other is pour it into empty, unquestioning heads.

F does equal ma and I believe that God made it that way for us to use.

Labels: christers, science

Actually, we went beyond pop to other things more "real".

In this case more the world of graphic art taken to the high end. Big money.

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

continues the arguments about the nature of art but also reminds us to look all around us to see.

I have viewed this before and I like the people. Banksy appears with a screen and an altered voice.

It is hard to separate the shit from the shinola but that, in itself, pretty much describes the range. The best of it, no matter which and what, will still be a polish and not the shoe.

All these people seem to enjoy kidding themselves but of course most art is about life's jokes on us.

Terry Guietta is the guide and Terry has a few tricks up his sleeve as well.

I liked this enough to see it twice and so that makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

Photographs from the New York Times from the almost past year.

Not exactly "memory lane" but transfixing nonetheless.

They are, besides being potent reminders of the times, really great photos!

I had forgotten some of these events. Some, are news to me.

I love the annual recaps.

It reminds me that I live in rich and abundant times.

And it is a far superior New Years' event than standing out in the cold among all the yahoos in Times Square.

But for years, we watched it at home. The glass ball.

What was I thinking?

Well, nothing. It is just a talismanic event. There is no doubt that January 2 will be the same as every other day. That is, in a general way. But in a specific way, yes. Beautifully so.

I will be here for that one too. If I can.

Labels: news, photography

We will all come out eventually.

Everyone everywhere sooner or later.

Some will just start by being a kid that has two dads or moms.

I think that this commercial may be only in Canada but even so, well, it is just overwhelming. Teary to the end.

I suppose that some fringes will think this is awful.

Let me tell you, it is wonderful!

General Mills.

We use Cheerios! Have forever. That makes it even better.

I love the three little Cheerios in the milk at the end.

Labels: coming out, gay couples, gay parents

I had my only interview with an MIT prospect this year.

It went fine and I enjoyed it and I think he did too.

The weird thing is that I have only five prospectives in my region when, in other years, there have been 30-40. With 20 or so opting for the interview which is not mandatory.

I am a member of the Education Council which is a fancy word for alumni who volunteer to give a face to face interview with an applicant for the next freshman class.

I am sure that there is not another member of the Council in my area. I don't get it. No one has explained it to me.

But I do know that this year they did not do the two or three invitational get together for high school seniors in my area.

I have been thinking that this is my last year doing this anyway. But if I only get a couple of kids it is more doable. A weird outcome.

So I will wait and see what happens.

I had a good time. He was a good kid. An average applicant which means that he is above average student. That sounds like puffery but it is the truth.

MIT is very hard to get into. 17000 applicants for a class of about a thousand. Or less.

Tough odds.

Labels: MIT

Labels: fun

I imagine it is nearly impossible to make a "teen angst" film that is not a cliche.

But the makers of this one have done it.

Short Term 12 concerns the residents in a home for troubled teens. A foster care facility. Not just a shelter. These are hard core cases.

I loved this movie.

The characters are complex and manage to avoid any stereotype. The adults who handle the facility are not perfect. Life is a day at a time process. People come, people go. That includes parents who have disqualified themselves through their behavior.

Best of all, spoiler, it has a relatively happy ending.

It breaks my heart that films like this are not widely distributed or, perhaps, wanted by the public.

But they exist and there is an audience, at least me.

I would very much like to see this again and so I will give it a 5 out of Netflix5. Well, maybe a 4 as I hate to make promises to kids that I can't keep. There is enough of that in this film. The kids work around it.

Labels: films

I really meant to write a blog post yesterday.

I really did.

But the day was full and I never got down to it. And when I did I had done enough and went to bed.

We had a wonderful day. I went early to do a one hour stint at our 24 hour holiday meeting. 6AM. It was, as usual, very good for me.

I met some new folks who usually are not there in the morning. My regular time.

Then home to the boys and opening gifts. Marcus got the most. He is a popular dog.

We thought he might like the paper but I guess that is cats who get all paper drunk. He did play with the gifts and acknowledged each one. He is a gentle soul and just enjoys life. Period. "You want me to play with these? OK. Here goes. Now can we go for a walk or get my breakfast? What about the normal life things?"

As usual, there is a life lesson in there.

So we got off our asses, made breakfast, went for a walk (and a Meeting) and had our day.

Phone calls, a few gifts that just showed up from Santa for both of us. A trick of misinterpreting the "no gifts for us" policy. "Not for you, for us".

Some vivid red mixing utensils. The set. They are nifty. Thank god no clothes. A bread basket out of a metal spiral, a geometry lesson. Sprung coil. And best of all, a new set of "stainless" second eating utensils. Our old ones have wood handles which are now beginning to split. A fork came apart the other day. We have had them a long time. The Santa ones are wood but it is laminated with a stainless edge so you get the effect but still have a strong, durable handle.

I know there are other things but we all tire of hearing of others' good fortune.

On to the day which was very nice.

I will not regale you with how the weather was the perfect kind. Walks later absolutely required to take advantage of that gift.

Christmas supper was left over turkey from the last time I did a breast. It said 110714. Probably. I hold off on turkey in the month before so by the time the big day comes it will be a treat.

Turkey is, hands down, the favorite protein item around here. But you can't eat it every day because the treat aspect would devolve int0 "fuckin' turkey again'.

So it is now officially over. We don't sven think about NYeve. It is not a big deal for us. The turn of the calendar is interesting but kind of irrelevant if you think about it.

One other thing. The gym is closed today. There is total silence around here. I suspect everyone is still having a holiday. Except for the dog who moved in next door who barked at us a lot this morning. Marcus doesn't even pay attention. The airedale's disdain for unseemly behavior. So they got up early. Two women who moved into the rental a couple weeks ago. There has been no real contact and probably will not be any. But who knows. It is a new day.

Oh!

For those who think it important, we had a white christmas too. The mountains made an effort in the last rain and took enough snow to make it glisten. As children listened to hear sleigh bells, day day day day dahhhhhhh!

Of course, very few people have a white christmas, even the little baby. It is all a result of Irving Berlin. An atheist jew who wrote really great music. Like a machine, he turned them out. Jewels.

Labels: holidays

If you hang out on the gay internet, it is inevitable that you will encounter the Studlebrity.

This is often a middle ground between soft porn and personal blog where a good looking young man displays his life for all to see. Or what he wants them to see.

I admit to some regular studlebrity visits on a daily basis.

What is the appeal here? What is their motivation? How does it work.

There is a DVD called Studlebrity which approaches these questions in a half baked way and that was today's movie.

I don't think it had much more than interviews with these guys which you could find on their very own sites.

There are a few talking head analysts who comment lamely on the scene.

What it boils down to is more prolonged eye candy shots for the voyeur. Me.

There is a phenomena that is interesting and that is where two of these guys met and got together. I watch one such couple now and it is interesting to see whether the public nature of their activities will affect their off screen time.

Of course, this is hard to evaluate and so, while I am mildly curious, I just watch and enjoy what I see and move on to more serious fare. It is mostly fluff but at some level these guys are role models for young gay men. But we have learned that there are role models and then there is real life and being a celebrity can be a kind of prison. More of this kind of examination might help this DVD which I will not see again.

The guy in the picture is Ethan Hethcote who ended up with another blogger Mark E. Miller and now they do a joint vlog on Mark Miller's blog site.

They are the most interesting couple that I have seen so far. It has been fun to follow the growth of their relationship.

Years ago I watched a similar blog called Chaos in Austin which is still alive but more as a porn site. I enjoyed it very much. They didn't mention this pioneer "photo journal". Perhaps for the porn-reason. A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: film, gay films, gay life

Labels: holidays

Today's movie was a DVD of an aborted television series starring Lewis Black.

It isn't very good but he is.

There are a lot of jokes and a few guests and it moves pretty fast.

I couldn't watch it all in one sitting but one more and I will have seen the entire series. It didn't last long.

Black has a unique power to make fun of the untouchable, the outrageous.

He is helped here with a few other comedians.

As a television show it is not the best showing of Black but it is still funny and enjoyable to see.

I will not look at it again, I am sure. But I had a good time.

Labels: comedy, fun

There is a lot of noise out there about Christmas but they are all wrong about that day.

Sure, it is high on the list of anticipated events but it is nothing to the fact that today is my husband John's birthday.

Saddled with an impossible coincidence of dates many people take all this green and red and glitter to be for the C guy.

Not so. It is really a not so subtle celebration of all the birthdays that happen anytime and especially those that occur in December.

Look. Today is all about the birthday from start to finish.

Presents in the morning, singing the b-day song for a wake up call. General fawning.

There will be roast beef for dinner and a great cake.

This year, for the first time an actual ice cream cake!

WTF!

No horses have been spared in bringing the best.

There is someone else in the family, incidentally, who has their birthday on the actual biggest 25th day. So this is a rolling celebration.

Let it begin.

Labels: birthdays

I like this from today's NYTimes.

North Korea Loses Its Link to the Internet: While perhaps a coincidence, the failure, which lasted about 10 hours, began after President Obama said the U.S. would respond to an act of "cybervandalism" against Sony Pictures.

I hope that fat little motherfucker got all crazy because he couldn't get his on line porn fix.

And his haircut sucks too.

I give a lot of room to a lot of terrible people but this one just reeks. He even looks despicable.

I know. Looks do not matter. I pose one question. "To whom"?

I have a lifelong belief that people look as they are inside and if you are observant, you can see a whole lot by looking.

Here, he wows the ladies.

Labels: evil bastards

The New York Times wants Obama to prosecute Dick Cheney for the torture thing.

Appoint Prosecutor to Investigate Cheney

Well, they want a special prosecutor.

I have to say that I am right there on this.

This fucking bastard got away with literal murder from his half powerful seat.

I am a long time Cheney hater as readers of this blog may know.

There is no redeeming quality.

He is a bastard through and through.

I think it is interesting that since he and the Bushies left the White House I have not gotten vehement about anything that the other Party does.

It was the total villainy of these motherfuckers, Cheney and his gang, that inflamed me. And still does.

I guess you can tell.

Labels: bushies, cheney, evil bastards

When I was in the third grade, I was given a bunch of books to read on my own.

I guess I was precocious.

Well, no vanity about it, I was very smart for my age.

Among these books was one that caught my interest like no other. And now I have seen it in a filmed story, not for the first time, but in a three plus hour version with Nicolas Cazalé which doubles the pleasure as he plays Friday, the native "son" of Robinson.

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

In which Cazale plays Friday, the native who Robinson befriends. I am watching all of Cazale's films. Well the ones that I can in Netflix.

In this one he plays it all in a breechclout but also with an improbably well cut page boy hairdo.

Once we are by that one though, it is not a bad movie although overly long. It was a television mini-series. Or special.

I do not remember the story. Someone complains that it has been changed. I don't know.

I wish I could give this a higher rating but I had to FF toward the end. They just took too long getting there even with the mostly naked Casale.

This was the third year of his professional career in French cinema and most handsome young male stars have to do a film like this to get ahead. It is how the game is played.

He is very good as he evolves from a "native" into a fairly articulate partner of Crusoe.

In a more modernized version of this story with these actors Friday and Robinson would have become lovers. It is nearly that although a young woman shows up just at the end, in the nick of time. Robinson's grown up daughter. I hope Friday is getting a little. But you can't tell.

So the FF button near the end takes a point off and makes this a 2 out of Netflix5. Not high art, just teevee but in this case it is OK. When the going got tough I watched Casale who's little modesty covering blew around enough to fill in the interest lost in the dialog.

Labels: books, films

I guess coming of age in England is about the same as here.

In today's film, a feisty young woman, part girl still, is facing the uphill of making the transition to an adult. Should she accept it or should she hang around and be an adolescent in the sort of fucked up sense.

She takes the tougher route and grows up.

We do not get to choose the path to our rites of passage. And such is the case here.

Broken (2012)

with Tim Roth and the wonderful young woman Eloise Laurence as "Skunk". The teenager in question.

Cillian Murphy helps out as a teacher.

This is not a great movie. Not everyone should see it. There are too many hurdles as though the writers sought to really really make it hard for our girl.

Some of the strands of story are abandoned. Keerist, they would need a whole television series to resolve it all.

But I enjoyed it as long as it lasted even though I did have my hand on the FF button occasionally. Or maybe closer to the stop.

A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: filkms

This is so touching.

We know a little about this kind of gay life.

I had my kids in my family when I met John and the love that went back and forth with all of us was such a surprise to me.

It took me a long time to come out because "of the kids" but that wasn't it at all. It was just my own fear and the worry that I would lose them.

Nothing proved to be real.

The cliche is "love is love" and if given the chance it goes all around. Just give it a chance. Give it time.

It doesn't always work of course but if we give it a chance it might just come about. Patience and willingness are the key. Easy does it.

Labels: gay families, holiday

The second episode of Sherlock proves to be as riveting as the first.

The interplay between Sherlock, Benedict Cumbernatch and Watson, Martin Freeman, is pivotal.

They are given equal parts to play in unraveling the mystery and become partners.

There is a homoerotic whisper in the air but today Watson got a date with a girl and, while it took the two of them into deep danger, it did take a bit of the spin off the gay angle. But I will be convinced the day that Sherlock himself gets a girl and we know that is very unlikely.

We are in the first season and I do not think that I am expected to write up the details of each episode. Nor should I as it will spoil the proceedings for anyone else. So, I promise. No spoilers.

Labels: films, television

A holiday tradition every year for almost 30 years.

The story here.

Darlene Love's Last Letterman Christmas

It is a great tradition. I don't or didn't watch Letterman but this got shown on YouTube forever. I love that it is in one place.

Labels: fun, holidays

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

I am not an ardent fan of Stephen Colbert but I have to admit he has great style and surely a lot of friends who are more than willing to go out of the way to say goodbye to him as he leaves the Colbert Report and heads to his new slot on the nightly talk show replacing David Letterman. Good trade incidentally.

There has been a massive attempt to name all the stars and celebrities on this segment. But TPM managed to do it here. They claim. There are a lot of gamers working this today and this seems to be the complete list. I get that the Colbert people are staying mum and letting the fans have their fun.

Very good.

Labels: television

The cliche of the Holmes saga.

He doesn't say it once.

Today's film was the first episode of the television version

Sherlock Holmes (2010)

The first episode in the first season of 3 episodes to be exact.

I am a long time fan of the great man but quit watching as he evolved through many boring versions.

The character is perfectly defined but not always realized as perfectly as he deserves.

They have done him proud here. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are the famous pair. It is the pair after all that defines the character. Holmes himself is so great he must be carried by two actors. One for the deducting, the other to elicit the thinking. Not a novel dramatic device but in this case it works quite well.

I enjoyed the program very much and will watch the whole series, now four years in the making.

The first Sherlock is on the page and the second more visual one is Basil Rathbone. Too young for him, eh?

And then on from there. He has quite a history. Many of his actors have been unable to fill his boots but it would appear that Cumberbatch will do just fine with Freeman's help.

Today's Holmesian puzzle is something about a dead body and a sister and some other business none of which matter at all. It is the action, the deduction, in short, the acting that matters.

I would watch this episode again! But will not now. I need to move on to the others.

I bought this set so that makes it a 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: television

It took a lot of balls for Obama to normalize Cuban relations.

It is a long time coming.

The diehards will probably bloviate and try to undo it but that he did it is enough for now.

I remember when this started. It is a long time problem. The Cubans in Florida are almost all Republicans because that is where their main support came from. To a great extent, they are single issue assholes.

But there are plenty of politicians who pander to them including some Democrats.

There will be fierce winds. Or, maybe, it will go down better than I think it will. God knows a lot of people are tired of it and forget the reasons we got to where we are in the first place.

Fox News was nuts this morning. I thought the fuckers would go dark with the vitriol. A breed apart.

For a long time, Cuba was a Republican pet project then when he turned commie the warmth went down the drain.

That Fidel was a sexy looking bugger wasn't he?

You know, the Canadians got over this long ago. A few Canadian friends go to Cuba for the holiday. It is a wonderful place, Havana. As though time stood still.

I suppose the old cars will disappear though. This could be a real boon for the auto industry. Wait a few days for the business interests to convince their GOoPer friends to cool it.

Labels: history

Today's film is actually three short films bound together under one idea; hiding out in plain sight.

The three guys are all good looking and bent toward other guys but not quite getting there. When they do it is kind of incomplete. Whatever they are looking for is beyond the current situation.

Le Clan / Three Dancing Slaves (2005)

French, hence the indirection, and written by Christopher Honoré who has done so well in some other films I have enjoyed.

Nicolas Cazalé is one of the slaves and, like the rest, he is lovely to watch. He is the reason that I got this film to watch. But all that brooding!

I don't plan to buy this film as once was enough for me. At the end I feel tightly bound up and need to expel something. Like these guys, I have something to do but don't know where or how. And I lack the courage to try it out.

I don't mean me. I just mean that is the closely message I get from the films.

The scene is set in Geneva and it is beautiful. Great backdrops. And everyone is good looking.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 because I will not be going back for more.

Labels: films, gay films

Today's film got caught in the DVD player.

So it stopped just as it got good.

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

A television special starring Nicolas Cazalé as Friday.

We had just gotten to the part where Friday is dropped off by other "natives" and abandoned. Only to be found by Robinson.

It isn't too homoerotic but enough to have me get the disc replaced so I can see the better half with Cazalé's mostly bare body on display.

More later.

I did not expect it to be a good film but actually the first half is pretty good.

Cazalé's bowl cut hair is a bit out of the realm of remote island native style. But what the hell?

Do you see Robinson eyeing him from the bushes?

Labels: films

Marcus and I walked in the rain this afternoon.

Pretty cool. It wasn't very heavy. Just enough to make his back wet and for me to put up my hood. Gentle rain.

Everything looks so different when it is wet. The colors which are naturally vivid get even vivid-er. I can make up a word!

He doesn't mind it and I do not either. It is a change in a sort of unending climate which mostly is either cool or hot but otherwise the same. The sun goes up north the sun comes back down.

It is still a bit warm for snow on the mountains. Maybe tonight.

I wrote about rain last week, didn't I?

Oh well. It is what is going on.

Labels: desert, weather

Now get ready for something completely different.

Today's film is about an alien who comes here as light and ends, well, in a dark way.

Under the Skin (2014)

with Scarlett Johansson in what has to be a mold breaking role.

She is scary. She is intense. She is beautiful. She stings like a bee.

Adopting human form, she searches for something and nearly finds it before she is found by the people who brought her here.

A lot of this is very mysterious and I am not sure what has happened sometimes but then, I believe, that is the point. We don't know. Do we?

I liked this film a lot and couldn't get away from it. Even going to pee didn't work in the taking a break sense. I had to go back and finish this horror thriller with a strong psychological bent. A triple play.

Johansson is perfect in the role. She has come a very long way but was always to be taken seriously.

The director/writer is Johnathan Glazer. The film is a masterwork and a NYTimes Critics' Pick.

Labels: films

Yesterday's condo association meeting went nicely.

It was both the annual meeting and a board meeting following.

We got a good turnout. Maybe 35 people and half of them stayed for the board.

I was re-elected Treasurer as expected (and desired) and the new chairman is a good guy who I like.

My reports went, as they usually do, unquestioned. There were a few questions about the items in the budget but these were more a matter of how rather than why.

There is some latent concern in the compound about security but most of the issues involve foolish behavior. Leaving items in their cars, parked on the street all night, is a main one.

Everyone has a garage but many are filled with shit that they brought and can't fit into their unit. Maybe from a house. Maybe just because they can't throw stuff away.

There are public storage places for this but that is not a popular statement to make in these discussions. The problem will remain and shit will get stolen and we will continue to detach from the problem as being between them and the police. And their own bad habits and laziness.

We have a new landscape contractor who got outspoken praise from people who came. They are doing a good job. We have some lovely open spaces with beautiful landscaping which has now grown into fully mature growth so very often the issue is removal of old trees that threaten the structures or some similar decision. Trees are a focus point for most people. The ones who love them and the others who don't want "the mess". We are for the trees and do what we can to preserve the vegetation.

The landscaping is one of the main features that attracted John and me to the complex. Very few others have as much open land or as verdant surroundings.

Labels: condo

I watched today's film just to see its star.

Such superficiality is quickly punished.

Nicolas Cazalé is the perfect foil for this kind of fantasy. He is gorgeous and his bad boy image works to convince us that his crimes (nearly killing a cop) are not to be held against him even though he is on the run and will, by the end, be caught and sent to the clink.

But in the meantime he will fall in love and be a romantic hero, have an idyll by the sea and, for more good fortune, not be shot down like a dog by the clever cop who chases him. The cop is entirely empathetic with the thug so he is able to predict the thugs next move rather accurately.

In the meantime, while this pot is boiling, the beautiful Cazalé is shirtless for at least four length scenes although, oddly, we never see him having sex with the girl who goes from being a hostage to being his girlfriend. Or something.

You would think that I did not like this film which is true but I stuck with it and with some artful FF was able to see a lot of the young man. a minimum of the weepy girl and enough of the cop who hunts him down to admire the chase some.

Axiom: Stars seldom make a clunker into a great film. They can only inhabit it so that the viewer forgives the lame goings on and just sits back to enjoy the view.

A generous 3 out of Netflix5 but actually, technically a 2 because of the FF thing.

Labels: films

I leave pretty soon for the annual meeting of the condo association.

I am not feeling entirely secure with my financial report but that is a good thing. I am the treasurer and probably the only person who scrutinizes it other than the professional managers. I am not always sure about the terms and conditions.

Of course, they, the pros, will chime in if there is a problem and I will have a quick prep meeting with my counterpart before the meeting.

We will have a new board after the meeting. Two people are leaving and two coming on. A third has resigned too late for an election so one will have to be appointed.

So. An almost totally new board.

I could be chairman but I would like to remain in my present Treasurers position. The signer of checks.

But I am willing to let it happen and unfold and see what we shall see.

I will report forthwith.

Does that mean after the meeting?

Labels: condo

I didn't either.

We are in the rainy doldrums here and everything is all wet.

I forget that we once lived under these conditions on a regular basis.

Marcus is even more unused to it than we. But he forges on, wet fur and all. Of course we are the ones who towel him off which he does like.

I know.

Even the best of us in the best of places are going to go on bitching about the weather.

In the same vein, life has been rather, well, normal. Nothing much of note.

I have been finishing out Season 3 of The Big Bangers.

I can only write so much about television.

Today, I am catching up on my gay film queue. There is a compilation of shorts Global Warming 2. The first collection was pretty good for this kind of thing and I am looking forward to seeing it but probably will not write about it.

Tomorrow I have the annual meeting of the condo association. I will be on stage throughout. It is held at the senior center auditorium. Yes. Palm Springs does have enough seniors to have a center and for the center to have an auditorium. Enough said.

I like this kind of thing and while it will steal my entire day, I am happy to hand it over. Entertainment at a high level and the sense of accomplishment of a public service.

Did I mention the rain?

Labels: life, public life, weather

There is nothing to report today.

I met with my counterpart at the condo management company. Getting ready for Saturday's Annual Meeting.

I don't have much to do at the Annual but there will be a regular Board meeting after we are done with the big show.

Most people will stay.

Fortunately, we are only in the second month of the fiscal year so there won't be much about that. I will show the close of the Annual but that has already been distributed to people. Any questions, at this point, are moot.

The year is over.

The rest of the day was just normal fiddling and little chores. A good time was had by all.

Labels: routine

More Big Bang Theory today.

I am headed toward disc three of the third season.

It is nice to know that the star, Jim Parsons, is an out gay man with a ten year long relationship, a husband! Todd Spiewack.

This is not the reason that I watch the show but it is an added pleasure.

I do not know the history but I have the impression that he has never been in the closet.

I like all the people. The actors.

You do know that I cannot bear television in general. Never watch it.

So far, the mega series Teen Wolf and Big Bang are the only ones that have caught my interest. Wolf because of its high hunk factor at first but then the realization that they were exploring all sides of the para normal "world" as part of the plot line. They know what they are doing. Tits and class.

And I admire Big Bang for all of its story line and all of its people. In addition, you know I am an MIT nerd and it never leaves. That high flown dorm talk.

The fact that they made a series out of my kind is quite heartening. It never talks down. I know that a lot of physics talk is used as a form of amusement but the stuff is completely accurate and watched over by a real physicist who appears in the show from time to time mostly as an extra. Next time I will do an item on him.

Labels: film, television

Watching Marcus take a drink is fascinating.

How does it work? Finally, an answer.

Labels: dogs, Marcus

Nicolas Cazale is my latest Franco-hearthrob.

He is also a great actor and has been in some wonderful films.

Today's film was Le Fil's De' Epicier / The Grocer's Son (2007)

The grocer's son has to come back to his mountain village when his Dad has a heart attack. The story is simple and sweet. He comes to fill in and then finds many things which he did not know about himself, his family or where he comes from.

There is not a lot of strife in this film. Almost all of it is stress free. The scenery is spectacular and the performances are touching.

Cazale is not only a looker but he is great in this role. He is reflective. Things move slowly. He bears the weight of time very nicely. I mean that he shows us what he is going through and we watch the process. He is a man of few words.

He is aided by the familiar actress Clotilde Hesme who takes him in hand and helps him make his decision whether to stay in the village or not. We all know what will happen but not how it will happen. The journey is the prize. Cazale was in yesterday's film, The Grand Voyage and I will be seeing a few more of his movies soon. I suppose that makes it a Cazale Fest. Just not all at once.

Labels: films

I remember this day in 1941 quite vividly.

We were listening to the radio (no teevee then) and there were bulletins. I was almost five so this is vivid.

My Dad got hyper excited and my mother, missing out on the attention, I think, fainted.

No one knew what it meant but I do remember the "presence" of Franklin Roosevelt who calmed us down and then declared war.

It took up most of my young life, the war. It was a central fact.

My Dad volunteered for the Navy. I think he didn't want to miss it. This was his war.

Don't be surprised. A lot of guys felt this way. Bellicosity. We may have calmed down some from that time as we have seen the realities of war, global or otherwise.

The day's events are indelibly written in these photographs.

There was rationing. There was crazy shit going on in families. A lot of the rules were lifted.

I remember as vividly the day my Dad came home from the Navy. He had served as a radar man (one of the first) on a destroyer escort. Tough duty across the North Atlantic, subs and the rest.

He never slept a complete night for the rest of his life.

The day has always meant a lot to me. One other guy my age used to mention it. He is gone now. Not many other people remember it. The "day of infamy". 73 years ago. 1941 to 2014.

Labels: WW II

In the desert, we compensate for no snow or ice by putting up lots of lights.

The neighborhood is burgeoning with displays and we are no exception.

The two trees that bracket the front wall have large icicles with led lights in side.

Today, John came home with a huge set of net lights to cover the inside and outside of the wall itself.

No stinting at our house.

Well, we have an image to hold up. One of us is a big wheel in the condo association and "they" all look to us to be a power of example.

We have some new neighbors across the way, one also named Earl (imagine!) who are still working on their stuff and so far it is looking pretty good.

Around the corner there are a lot of lights going up and down the street.

When we first moved here we laughed at this need for ostentatious display in the face of a hot and sunny winter.

But now, we are right into the same boat with the other compensators. And isn't it fun?

Labels: holidays

Today's film is from another world.

A young Muslim man goes with his older Dad on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Le Grand Voyage (2004)

In addition to a great father/son story, it is a deep visit to the world of pilgrimages and ancient mysteries of the Mohammedan faith.

I liked it very much. The young man is inquisitive and very good with his bossy father.

They make a good pair. We can see how the son does, indeed. take after the father.

The film is slow and steady as it moves across borders from their home in France to the city of Mecca where all pilgrimages end.

It is a great combination of travel picture and buddy film.

The movie assumes correctly that the visitor is clueless about what is going on. It is not didactic. Show versus tell.

The bond between the very young man and the very old man is brought to the surface as difficulties are encountered during the trip. At one point the old man points out that if it is easy then it is not a good pilgrimage.

I liked the film a lot and would be quite willing to see it again. So, a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

Gay films have been made to fit all genrés.

Today's film is the horror, chiller, thriller scare fest film.

Solo / Alone (2013)

It is extremely well done. So much so as to take me completely aback at the outcome.

I could complain about this. The fact that it scared and upset the fuck out of me.

But I really cannot.

I think that is because it is so well done that it pulls the viewer in slowly and surely and then drops the net. Or the hammer as the case may be.

A guy meets another guy on the internet and they meet up.

They begin to see each other and spend a night together. Most of the film is about that night.

First we see the same things that the one guy sees. Then a little more. Finally even more. Half truths become, well, whole truths and the worst suspicions do not happen. Perhaps worse ones.

I am still quavering a bit.

Do I want to see this again? Not on your life. On the other hand, well, maybe, just to see how it was done.

Marcelo Briem Stamm is the director and I will be careful before I see another one of his films.

Well, not really. I do not normally go see a horror film and so I am a bit more vulnerable than I would like to think.

Keerist. It is still rocketing around in my head.

I should say that the men are extremely handsome and the sex scenes are very well done.

Which only adds to the scare factor!

Labels: films, gay films

Some people are able to blend in so much that they disappear.

Such is the case of a now famous photographer Vivian Maier. In her life she was inconspicuous to a fault. Now, posthumously, her work is receiving a lot of attention, including today's film

Finding Vivian Maier (2013)

We see a lot of her work, a little bit of her and a lot of other photographers and museum types who appreciate her work.

There is even a guy we know from Provincetown, the photographer, Joel Meyerwitz.

I think it is difficult to make a good film about a still photographer no less a dead one. But John Maloof has done so. It is filled with life, interesting people and not just talking heads. We do, of course, see a lot of Maier's work.

It is amazing that the photos seem as though they are a movie. A film of a person. Biography in one shot.

I enjoyed this film a lot and learned a great deal about photography, some contemporary photographers and of course, Ms. Maier. Also something about the young man who resurrected her, John Maloof.

Labels: film, films

I used to work in the field of warehousing.

It was a grocery chain store, so order picking was oriented to a store order selecting from a huge inventory of items.

Recently I saw the new bots that are used at Amazon and was fascinated by the simple sophistication of these devices.

I like the way they use all directions of action. The pod platform turns as does the pod itself. Watch it.

It effectively carries a shelf with just the right stuff in the right place so that the order fillers only have to reach for an item to fill the customer order.

Labels: technology

I lack the basic information to appreciate any film about the Arab/Israeli hate fest.

I sort of come out with wishing a pox on all their houses.

Today's film capsulizes it all in stunning and disgusting detail.

Killing, torturing, lying, propagandizing. And it is everyone. Both sides.

Bethlehen (2013)

proved to be too much for me. I gave up about half way through.

You will have to see it yourself if you want to know more.

Me? I have had enough of all of it. Since I was a kid. All the movies, all the rants, all the bullshit. They deserve each other. Have at it.

Labels: arabs, films, Israel

Marcus and I just returned from a wet afternoon walk.

It has been raining lightly all day.

You may know that the water situation in California is dire. This is a small break in the pattern but we are grateful nonetheless.

Marcus is a desert dog so while rain is familiar it is not a regular thing in his life.

He was happy to go one round of the complex and head for home where his other Dad waited with towels and a happy rubdown.

Me?

I just got to take my wet jacket off and hang it up while they were making a game of "come in from the rain".

Some guys have all the fun.

Rain is always welcome in the desert although our first year they overdid it. Very wet. And cold.

It was the year that everyone came out here from the East to see where we had ended up. I remember worrying our way through that. But then as it turns out, there have been many sunny years and the record is clear. Just like the sky.

Labels: Palm Springs, weather

I have to say that while I can't argue with the technology, I can say that it doesn't look like him.

To me.

It is pretty interesting and the technology has to be "right". But the product doesn't sell it.

At the end, the idea of a third revolution. Huh?

Labels: obama, technology

Today's movie was about laughter.

Lewis Black DVD The History of the Joke

The show is filled with comedians and jokes and is very funny.

It is not surprising that the connection was made between laughter and sadness, life and death. Humor is like that.

I have seen this disc before and it still seemed fresh and new.

A good time was had by all.

I liked that he had some of the old time comedians along for the ride.

For example, Shelly Berman finished with this.

Labels: humor