esrosedotblog

I am a sucker for gay coming of age films.

The best ones are those which do not really focus on the gay aspect but more of the dynamics of growing up and out of the home. To be on one's own.

Today[s film is a superb example, and happily, the two young men happen to be gay. The guy we are focused on and his first boyfriend.

The film is famous as a gay film but transcends that genré nicely without giving up some rich love scenes and really enjoyable romantic times.

Come Undone (2001)

I am still working out of our own DVD collection. Once I got started with a few Techine films I couldn't stop. But I will soon. The Netflix are stacking up.

There is another film of this name so if you go looking, be careful. This is the 2001 one.

Labels: films, gay films

It is one thing to lose the support of conservative newspapers.

Quite another to have a newspaper that has never endorsed any candidate say that one of the 2016 candidates is not fit to be President.

USA TODAY's Editorial Board: Trump is 'unfit for the presidency'

Shocker.

USA Today is not a conservative newspaper but there are a lot who are dropping Trump.

Right Leaning Newspapers Bail on Donald Trump

Well, newspapers do have less influence now than in the past but if I was a Republican candidate for President I could no blow this stuff off.

Trump is deeply unpopular not only because of his fitness but because he is not really a conservative. He is Trump.

That is getting clearer all the time. He hijacked the GOP and is running his own vanity campaign. Not working out so well I think.

Today's more André Téchiné.

Les roseaux savages / Wild Reeds (1993)

A group of provincial young people find themselves busting out of the restrictions that their bourgeois life presents.

Very nice. A universal theme. As usual there is a gay kid in the mix who is trying to figure out why he is different.

This is a great film for coming out. It does not offer answers so much as some insights and ways of thinking that would help any boy (the girl is not confused about sex) figure himself out in the sex department.

In any case it ia a beautiful film done in the countryside with lots of moving water, waving grass and, of course, reeds. The ones who bend in the wind and do not topple as a tree would.

I have seen it several times so a 5 out of Netflix5. Bravo.

Labels: films, gay films

There are all kinds of family triangles.

This one is about a Mom and her two kids, brother and sister.

Ma Saison Preferee / My Favorite Season (1996)

I was an only child. This film helps me be relieved that is the case.

My Mom was a lot like this one, very self centered. It took all I had to please her. Maybe with a sibling there would have been some help but I think it would have been more like the situation in this film.

André Techiné weaves a great story. The seasons roll. The situation alters but does not change.

This is mostly people talking but still, there is action. You just have to pick it up in the dropped phrases and the eye rolls. Subtle.

Just like life.

Labels: films

I like to read about the "money markets" in election times.

These are the places where people put their money where their mouths are. Betting on the outcome.

I know, it is not the same. But it is a partially legalized version of the old horse betting systems.

Prediction Markets Score the Debate a Rout: Clinton Over Trump

I would bet for Hillary too.

OK. I just broke one of my rules and called her by her first name.

Everyone else is including her own campaign.

In the meantime, while I do not bet real cash, I do have an imaginary stake in the outcome. Her probabilities jumped six points yesterday.

Go Hillary! Go Ms. Clinton! Win, place and show!

Labels: 2016 General Election, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

I ran out of Netflix so back to our own library.

Today, revisiting André Techiné with

L'embrasse pas / I Don't Kiss (1991)

A young man comes to Paris and finds life.

Part of that is the realization he has no talent, no skills, no basis for a job at all. At least not one that he wants. Dishwashing is not a solution.

He meets a prostitute and realizes this is a way for him to make some money and have what he wants.

For awhile this works and then it does not.

He is taken in by an older gay couple who influence him to go straight.

Which he does. But not in the way that they had in mind.

Labels: films, gay films

Lop sided.

That is my opinion of last night's debate.

Clinton beat Trump at every turn.

Not that I am biased or anything.

I liked the big headline on Huffington Post.

Orange Crush: Donald Trump Fell For Hillary Clinton’s Trap At Monday’s Presidential Debate

Mean but accurate.

"Very very accurate--so accurate." To put it in Donald language.

The reiterative superlative.

I have read a lot of analysis this morning and have yet to find any opinion that differs from mine except in volume.

At the beginning the new revised version of Trump showed up but it did not last long.

He fell into the old overtalking, bullshit spreading Donald we all know and love to hate.

Clinton was really good at sticking the pins into the bloviator's balloon. Adept at stating her own case. Her attitude was focused and high energy. Laser like.

Donald got lost after awhile and one could see the flop sweat.

I was not really worried that Clinton would be good at this. She has many years of dealing with misogynist jerks, some on the international scale.

And Donald Trump is a misogynist jerk supreme. He couldn't even hide it. Ready for the pounce, Clinton has also perfected the knowing glance into the camera. She knew she was on split screen and knew how to use it well. The faint chuckle as she sticks him yet again.

The jury is not out on this. I may be overly positive about Clinton's performance but very few people are saying that it was even a draw. Clinton had his ass and he knew it.

Labels: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

Political movies are hard to watch.

First, they reduce hard issues to soft cinematic mood pieces. Second, because they are one sided and usually preach to the crowd. If you are not part of the crowd, well, too bad.

Today's film is about the world arms market. It stars Nicolas Cage. Mr. Intense. He plays an asshole, type casting, and he is the cold, hard hearted arms merchant.

Ethan Hawke in a neat buzz cut is the Fed who is after him.

Ian Holm, a favorite, is a father figure to them all. Another kinder dealer.

It is all bogus bullshit. No doubt based on facts but the cartoonish nature of the film is hard to take.

Rant and more rant.

Of course, the arms dealers are terrible people. Period. Don't make me watch them for two hours and try to make them human.

Just do not.

I am not sure how I ended up renting this. I will be more wary in future. A 2 out of Netflix5. I had to FF through the weepy shit and the talking heads. Also the bloody killings.

Labels: films, violence

The debate is tonight.

Part of me doesn't want to see it. To be on a different planet.

The election period has not really started and I am over it.

I am happy to be part of the electorate and I know who I am going to vote for.

Do I have to watch this?

Yes.

I have to watch it because I need to know the ins and outs of close up combat between two people who want to "rule the world".

They probably are not going to show any flop sweat in the closeups. The room will be very refrigerated.

But there will be the eye rolls and the jittery hands.

The debate was never a fixture in American politics. At least not the nationally televised one.

Now it is as American as apple pie.

I net out that, like it or not, it is a good thing. We need to see the hand to hand combat now because we will not see it again for four years.

After the election, the curtains will close and the photo-opp and the well rehearsed appearance will be the business of the day.

There might be a difference this time though.

If god forbid, the Trumpfer wins the election it will all be about pulling it out of his ass.

Labels: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

Today's film is about the actions taken after Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics.

Steven Spielberg creates a mixed pallet, mixed message, mixed point of view film which is a bit incoherent but not possible to quit or FF.

Munich (2005)

Eric Bana, Goeffrey Rush and other interesting actors take on the revenge for the killings by finding and hunting down all the Palestinian perpetrators. Or if not Palestinian, their sympathizers. It is not clear, even at the end, who they are killing and why. Which is partly the point of the film, the skein of "outlaw" killings is not rational or even consistent.

Your enemy may not be my enemy and if you are my friend today you might not be tomorrow. The only way to tell is that you are dead and I am not.

I have to admit that the action and complications are pretty well laid out. I suspect that since it is "based on" events, this was necessary to make a coherent story and to have a consistent hero.

Eric Bana serves well in this role. He is a heroic looking man and manages to go shirts off frequently enough to remind us of that fact.

The movie is long. Over three hours. I watched it in two gulps.

I will rate it a 3 out of Netflflix5 because I could never go the distance again.

Another warning, ET it is not. No cuddly aliens. No one is to be trusted. Watch who you get interested in and how it turns out.

Labels: films

The NYTimes has endorsed Hillary Clinton.

This is not a surprise but the vehemence of their support for her is quite impressive. It is a great essay.

And it is a take down of Donald Trump.

The important thing is that they made it about Clinton and not about against Trump. A big difference.

The enumeration of her assets is quite good even from a person who is a fan already.

I have never had any doubt about me in this process. The doubts I have are about the Clinton agonizers who cannot let go of the past.

HILLARY CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT: Our endorsement is rooted in respect for her intellect, experience and courage.

Through war and recession, Americans born since 9/11 have had to grow up fast, and they deserve a grown-up president. A lifetime’s commitment to solving problems in the real world qualifies Hillary Clinton for this job, and the country should put her to work.

Labels: Hillary Clinton

John Frankenheimer is still making the same movie.

This one stars Robert DeNiro and some other actors I like in a remake of a remake of a remake.

Ronin (1998)

I do not know why I got this. It must have been on someones list of action pictures.

It is a boring tour of sights in France as mayhem takes place at each.

A lot of guns, a lot of choking, some slit throats and I quit. Too much of a bad thing.

A 1 out of Netflix5.

Oh yes. There is an in joke so out that it is lame. A random guy says "you looking at me?". Yuck. Suck.

Labels: films

The other end of the martial arts genré today.

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

All the clichés piled into one funny film.

It is a hoot.

And I do not think one has to be that much familiar with the category.

In some ways it is lame. But all lameness disappears when, voila! Stephen Chow appears. Writer, director and hero, this guy has the goods.

There are many classic story telling elements including when the hero ascends to heaven and comes back as a shirtless ninja warrior. Gorgeous. A sop to all the queer followers.

Chow made a lot of films. Starred and directed.

This is a good example of how he can have it both ways.

Unlike the film we saw yesterday there is a lot of wire work in this one. Flying bodies. But where and how they fly is often the crux of the joke being unreeled before us.

I would not mind seeing it again sometime which makes it a 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

Tod, one of the first martial arts films.

The Shaw Brothers. There from the very very beginning. They were the beginning.

Very good. The template for all that followed.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)

There is not a lot to say about it. It set the tone. Lots of fights, a villain, more than one hero who decide that one of them is a superhero.

I liked it a lot.

One time only, so a 3 out of Netflix5.

This is a long trailer so it sells the goods pretty well. Lots of peeks into the action.

Labels: films

We got what we wanted.

Rain, rain, rain and more rain. And still rain now at 1530 hours. A couple of days now.

It came in this morning and is staying.

We irrigate everything here but there is no substitute for rain. You can't go out and walk around in irrigation. Well, you can but it is not very pleasant. Irrigation does not really wash the tops of plantings down. Desert dust is going going gone today.

So we are happy. As long as it doesn't overstay its welcome. Maybe another day or two. But that won't happen. the little sun signs are popped up on my weather app on the iPhone.

Yes. My iPhone. How do I like it? It is OK. It has caché which is very important.

It is a bit hefty but I am beginning to use other apps than phone. I tried messaging but still do not have anyone else who does text.

I have browsed the web with it. I prefer my iPad but I can see the charm of the phone for a quick fix.

So. Here it is. Here I am. Progress. More expensive as always. And it does tell me that it is raining outside.

Labels: weather

Today's film, a classic Judy Holliday vehicle.

Born Yesterday (1950)

Directed by Garson Kanin, Holliday is Billy Dawn. Prototypical dumb blond until, well that is what the picture is about..

This is a delight in every way. Supported by William Holden, Broderick Crawford and Howard St. John, the stage hit is reproduced in a way that somehow misses all the pitfalls of such adaptations.

Holliday is fantastic and everyone else rises to the occasion as Billy Dawn discovers she has a brain and that she can use it for her own advancement.

Another thing that happens here is patriotism. The Bill of Rights is featured. Part of Billy Dawn's awakening. (get it? Billy Dawn? Well I did not until just moments ago). Not too heavy handed and very effective. She walks the streets of Washington DC and we do it with her. All the sites and sights. Thomas Jefferson plays a part with his Memorial. A movie has to "open the play up" and this is done very effectively.

This is also one of the early women's lib efforts. Flying under the radar of course. It was the Fifties after all.

I saw it when it first came out and then again and again ever since. This earns the film a 5 out of Netflix5.

We are having rain and dark clouds.

It is the talk of the town.

Of course, the rain is needed. We are in the desert. And all of California is in drought.

But the delight of a change from the normal is fun. The few people I saw today at the store were almost giddy at the prospect. Me too.

And here it is. Dark clouds, wet pavements. Very slippery since there hasn't been a wash off in quite a while.

I thought perhaps we might need the furnace on too. But it seems that won't be the case. It is still pretty warm.

For me it means that I will not have to water my garden or fill up the fountain today. Yes. I do that. Sorry. But Jerry Brown's mandate has lifted so it is OK now.

It is a blessing to have such wonderful weather year round but perversely we all kind of want it to get nasty the way it used to do back East. Boston weather came up in conversation more than a few times today.

Tomorrow we go back to the boring nice weather, full sun, warm temperatures. Over and over again. No change until the next showery day. Some relief from the tedium of beautiful clear and sunny skies.

Labels: weather

Trump is a master of trash talk.

Donald Trump: ‘I’m not OK with Anderson Cooper, who treats me very unfairly’

This is nothing new. It is an old trick of his. It is effective. Similar to players baiting refs before hand, talking up their weaknesses to soften them up to avoid criticism.

He is a trickster and a scoundrel. Whether you want that for your President is up for question. No doubt he wouldn't mind trash talking on an international scene.

Roughing them up.

There is a reason for diplomacy. It puts a dampener on human tempers and cools the jets of anger.

Even our most temperamental Presidents have watched their tongues. Insult and invective are not very good negotiating tools and almost all of politics is a negotiation.

There is a hard core of yahoos and malcontents who enjoy this kind of talk. The practice of sticking one'e chin up. Upping to the other side.

It is a good way to get your chin clipped too.

Remember Ali was great on the trash but he was also fast on his feet and had the hard punch when the other guy leaned in. But that was boxing.

I like straight talk. McCain thought he was dealing his cards with it but he was a softy compared to this guy.

Trump is a bully which means he is also a coward. The idea of hitting first and as low as you can is the tactic of the guy who can't take it himself.

Yah yah yah. I can hear it in the school yard.

Trump doesn't have the stuff so he talks big.

Which makes him small.

Labels: Donald Trump, Trumpf

We had a "planned" power outage today.

Three hours which stretched to four.

It wasn't too bad but it is amazing how antsy this makes me.

The "what ifs" keep pouring in.

So I sit and meditate. Watch them go by.

They did pretty well on the planned time. Changing a transformer.

We could see the guy on the pole up the street.

Thank goodness for the Kindle and good meditation practice techniques., So it is over and are back in business. Not too bad now that it is over.

One consequence of the late hour was that we went out for fast food. Well, John went. Brought it back. We thought we would try Kentucky Fried Chicken. A bucket.

Not bad but not that great. We had the crusty kind, not the old fashioned. There were biscuits. Gravy which is odd for fried chicken I think.

The bucket doesn't have the original Colonel on it anymore. Sort of a meld between him and the new guy. Not the same.

Anyway, today turned out to be a holiday more or less.

Labels: cooking

Labels: Trumpf

Labels: Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton

Sometimes movie producers actually produce good message movies.

Eye In The Sky (2015)

could be one of them but it is marred with too much gab and not enough action.

I do not mean action as in suspense and "will the bomb go off" and so on. I mean action in the sense that something is wrong, everyone talks about it, and then do nothing.

This is, of course, how things work but it doesn't always make for a good movie.

I was hoping for more.

There are some very good actors and they do act. Brits, they give it their best. Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman, some excellent African actors who I am ashamed, sort of, to not remember or know. It is not that the all look alike, an old joke which isn't. It is that I am not regularly exposed to the lot of them and always they are in hard roles to identify with.

Well, it is a weak excuse,is it not? I will try to do better..

In any case, here, we have a satellite that has found a target, a bunch of brown men putting together suicide jackets in a homey community. Human shielding.

Once they are actually seen, the high tech stuff is wonderful if somewhat unbelievable, the decision to strike or not is up to a gaggle of bureaucrats. It is here that the film breaks down. There is nothing exciting or even justifiable about bureaucratic decision making.

I was with this movie all the way. Hard as it might be to see Helen Mirren as a hawkish military officer, she does break the old glass ceiling here. Up to now only men can be reprehensibly cold to all but the military mission.

A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

Today, an interesting article in the NYTimes.

The Insomnia Machine

For a long time, I drank to go to sleep.

Not a good idea. I ended up in deep deep trouble. With the help of doctors and the best recovery program known to man, I was able to climb out of the pit I had dug with that one.

But lack of sleep or the idea of it haunted me for awhile.

No more.

I can go to bed and am gone in minutes.

I had techniques that I used and, still, occasionally use to get on the sleep train. The most dependable method is to focus on my body, one part at a time. Starting from the toes is good. I do not think I have ever gotten to my head. Also a random accounting of all my pieces works too.

One rule. I never get up except for a few minutes to pee but nothing else. This is against the law with sleep specialists.

Naps, too, are prohibited by the specialists. Verboten. I am a rebel here too. I nap every day. I get up early in the morning, wide awake, at 4 AM. Sleeping in does not work for me. But later in the morning, I go back and nap. Not a "power nap" although I perfected that when I did management training. For lunchtime, I would go back to my room and lie down. Zzzzzzz. I could get up on time, sharp, refreshed and go to work. Same now with the longer naps. About an hour and fifteen minutes.

I rarely have any trouble going down for a nap. If I do, I get up and take the message from the universe that a nap is not on my list of activities for the day. This happens rarely.

This could be genetic. I learned it from my Dad. Emulation. Nature and nurture. He could drop down like a rock. And stay there. We worked together for a couple of years. I watched him go to the car and drop off for awhile, snap up in time and be refreshed. I did the same.

Good stuff Dad.

So, I suppose I am not an insomniac at all. In fact, I am convinced that if I thought I had trouble going to sleep I would. Have trouble. This was Dad's trick. He just assumed he would drop off and wake up in time. No worries. Me too.

When I have had some bad "can't sleep" spots here and there I have tried counting but not in a sequence. Usually starting at 300 and counting backward.

Another counting trick that works is to count in threes. Not every other number but every third. I think what happens is the mind rebels against such nonsensical exercise and just shuts down into alpha and beta waves.

I would never eat anything to go to sleep. Warm milk. Yuk.

I have no personal hints.

Perversely, when awake there are some annoying things that can happen that make me sleepy. When I least want to shut my eyes.

One is meditation. Somnolence is considered one of the mind's tricks to keep us from finding whatever it is we are looking for in sitting. Gentle treatment brings us back to the mind through breath.

Meditation is another subject however. The problem there is more the idea that we should be mindless. Not so. Mind-ful-ness means being able to see the mind at work and letting us know about it. Just information going through. Bubbles.

But meditation is a kind of work and my experience that trying to meditate lying down is not a good idea. Not for the soul and not for sleep. In fact, if I meditate in bed I am stoking insomnia by mind focus which is the last thing I need for a good night's rest.

Sometimes when I am at the computer, I get sleepy. Work aversion? I don't know.

Same with reading. Even a good action packed novel which is mostly what I read now. Non-fiction, a guaranteed snooze. But give me a good M/M romance with plenty of sex and I am your master reader. Dozing the farthest thing from my mind.

There are a lot of paradoxes here. A maze. I sympathize with the real insomniac. Thank god I am, ultimately, too much of a sleep hound to miss another opportunity to take a nap.

Finally, let me give you one hint which is of absolutely no practical use. If you have trouble getting to sleep or having naps, get old. The old timer in the rocking chair is no myth, Sleep is the natural haven for the codger. A pick me up for creaky bones and a mental balm for erasing self pity. So, try it. Get old like me and your sleep will come along with you.

It took me almost 80 years though. You may not want to wait that long.

Labels: aging, life, sleep

And here we have an impressive little film that stretches the mind and imagination.

The Fits (2015)

A young black girl sees things around her that are certainly real and then perhaps not.

It is easy to see a metaphor here for the rise from girl to woman. On the other hand, the sometimes experimental technique of the film warns us not to be too glib in our responses.

Now these are afterthoughts. As the film transpires there is certainly a "what is going on here" reaction but it is within the construct of the story and the film itself.

It suddenly occurred to me that I was in the grips of a spell. Magical realism had taken me into a world I can never inhabit. A maturing girl, in school, and a black girl at that.

Wonderful.

It is a very short film. Only 75 minutes, even less than the usual minimum of 90. But this too is a demonstration of its emotional economy. The minimum story line to take us in. To hold us down. To give us a chance to let go of our own experience and see another life.

I find I am not making a lot of sense here. But the film speaks for itself. Lovely, gorgeous in the latest visual fidelity. We roam the halls of the school with a little girl and, like her, are transported.

The fits? Well, young women have "fits" here. Mysterious and somehow inspiring. So strange yet completely engaging.

This is the kind of new film making that encourages me for the filmic future.

I would gladly see it again. A 5 out of Netflix5 perhaps or at least a 4.

Labels: films

Condo Board meeting today.

We are struggling with the reality of a long drought in California and a state mandate to reduce water usage.

We are doing pretty well but there are consequences. The once fine but inappropriate deciduous trees which were planted when the complex was built, the early 60s, have had to find more water underground and have gone looking for it. They found the sewer lines.

So, out with the trees and in with some desert friendly fan palms which will be happy to grow without going deep. The idea of putting nothing in is a non-starter. People want their "trees". Our job is to find some that work better.

We are also in the process of rebuilding roofs which was postponed some to cover the unexpected cost of the new trees.

A domino effect on the budget.

A lot of other details of condo life were addressed, but the longest time by far was the landscaping problems and solutions.

I continue to enjoy my time on the Board. I am still the Treasurer and love to handle the money and sign all the checks.

I do not aspire to higher office.

I like the people I am serving with. I like the non-combative air of the meetings.

We get a good turnout of owners, maybe twenty or so. A small percentage of the total 146 but the interested percentage. A lot of owners are part time and are more than happy to let us run things. Especially since there has been no increase in monthly fees for two years and no additional assessment to cover unexpected costs.

Tranquil compared to a lot of Boards I know of. Or even our Board back over five years ago. The "fighters" all left or were voted out.

This is my second term. Unopposed. I act like I am going to stand for office again. Whether I do or not is less the point than the belief that any office holder should run a little "scared" of the electorate and their approval.

For example, I wave to everyone whether I know them or not. Sooner or later I get to know them. But the wave is purely for the vote. I am also a cynic and am willing to act accordingly.

I learned all this from my Dad who was on the School Board and held other offices all his adult life. Service. With a smile and a wave.

I also like the Tip Oneill philosophy that people want me to ask for their vote and to act like I will.

I have always done this kind of thing. Love it.

Labels: condo

A nation of immigrants.

That's up. I am second generation. My grandparents still spoke German to one another.

Then that was gone.

Films like this help us remember the really really recent past and how it is so intimately involved in our own experience.

Brooklyn (1015)

I read the Colm Tolbin book and enjoyed it very much. Books rarely travel as well to the screen so I figured I would try this out on its reputation and forget the rule I have about only doing one or the other. Book or movie but not both.

This is a wonderful film and should not be missed.

Everything about it is right.

No wrong notes.

Most of all it involves us in an old fashioned filmic way. No funny camera shots or all the rest. Just solid film craft and solid ensemble acting.

There are a few old timers to hold a young cast together. I can see them doing it. Jim Broadbent. Julie Walters.

And the young leads. So romantic. Yes, like I said. It is an old fashioned movie. So good. I will see it again.

A 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films, films

Today, a sexy gay film about unrequited love.

Those People (2015)

Surprising, huh?

For various clinical and aesthetic reasons a lot of gay love goes unrequited. Asd, I suppose the het kind does too. Plays, songs, operas abound around this subject.

So much about "the gays" being like bunnies, doing it all the time. They all do it and have to pay the pipers.

Of course, doing it is not the same as loving. And, I think this is the film's point.

But along the way this is a very sturdy and well done romantic story with very attractive but not over the top handsome men. They have normal desires and trouble realizing their satisfaction.

It is not a romantic comedy but it is also not a dreary rehash of all the bad things that happen to people who love. And it is a very very far cry from the old model of gay film where happiness must not go unpunished.

There is also a significant subplot about money which goes away when the market crashes. Also something about lost fathers.

I liked it very much and if my romantic interest is interested, I will buy it for us to put in our library. That would make it a 5 out of Netflix5 or if we don't buy it, well, a 4. But I sure plan on seeing it again.

Labels: films, gay films

I got my annual flu shot today.

They say that old people are the most vulnerable so that is one thing. Another is that I do not want to get the flu. I have always taken the shot.

This is only important in that no one had a second thought about this until the last couple of years.

The anti-vaccers have landed.

These are the no-nothings that accompany other outbreaks of no-nothingness.

Witness Donald Trump. Would that there would be a vaccine for tiresome blowhards. But there is not.

But I digress.

I have never, ever second guessed my doctors. Not until I sought an alternative opinion and then went with that. Informed judgement.

This is why we have kept a traditional general practitioner who knows us and knows our history. Who applies his medicine to us personally and not out of some file. He says who and how we use specialists.

Someday, Doctor Jim will retire and we will have to make a decision if he does not transfer his practice, whole, to a younger man. He says that he is in for the duration.

He has done what he had to to make his energy be sufficient. For example, he does not give the shots anymore. No problem. I go to my regular pharmacy who also knows me intimately. It is a small outlet that belongs to the Walgreen special network. Designed, in this case, for gay men. It is named "Community".

I suppose that some day medicine will be a mass industry. But for now, not. I hope I will be dead when that happens.

Oh. Did you get your flu shot yet?

Labels: doctor, medicine

Today's film was too much for me.

Chocolate (2008)

A martial arts slugfest. Lots of blood in the streets.

The twist is that this has a woman as a star.

The fight scenes are pretty good but the plot cannot even begin to support watching this without a strong hand on the FF.

I gave up after while, exhausted with holding the button down while scanning to the next wipeout.

Just not to my taste I guess. And thus endeth my latest attempt to get on board the fight train.

A 1 out of Netflix5 although the critic gave it 4 out of 4 stars.

Labels: films

All of a sudden, autumn.

Time for a jacket in the convertible. 63 F in the air and gods know what in the wind chill factor.

We have been waiting for this. And the week will not disappoint.

A turning point has been reached and it will stick with us.

We watch the weather carefully. Inside, outside, in the sun, out of the sun?

The house is open and will likely stay that way for most if not all of the day.

I know that for a lot of people this is trivial nonsense. It is just weather.

But the engagement with heat for four months is tiring and sometimes unbearable for long periods.

Whining.

Many of our Northeast friends would give their left nut, if they had one, for our weather.

I know, a sexist turn of phrase but colorful enough to make the point.

We will do our best to keep the ball rolling.

Also, to make it real, the AC vendor came yesterday to tune up the heating system for winter. We have a service contract which makes this automatic.

This morning I thought I might turn the heat on but realized I had opened all the windows and so went to shut them.

Labels: desert, weather

I don't think there was anything wrong about Clinton's "deplorable" remark.

But then I am biased.

But, for awhile, I thought perhaps it was pretty harsh rhetoric and might backfire on her politically.

Apparently, not so much.

Mike Pence Is Rebuffed as He Tries to Rally G.O.P. Leaders Over ‘Deplorables’

He ran head on into a buzz saw. John McCain for one.

The discontent of Senators and other responsible Republicans has been kept under wraps but now it seems to burst forth as Trump tries to get a more robust support from traditional allies.

Nope.

What Pence heard was some really tough talk back. John McCain particularly criticized Trump's embrace of Putin. Somehow the Donald forgot that there are still a lot of cold-warriors left in his Party who don't cotton to such soft talk.

Especially those who, like McCain, are running for re-election in a tough talk State.

It is all rather amusing to see. It shows neophyte Trump left high and dry with his own isolation from his Party. Now, when he needs some love and support, nowhere to turn.

Like it or not, we have a two party system and outliers or renegades like Trump will be roundly punished for such transgressions.

Labels: Putin, republican whack jobs, Trump

It takes awhile to register that we are on several planes in today's film.

Cemetery of Splendour (2016)

A visitor and volunteer at a veteran's hospital is assigned to a ward where all the patients sleep continuously.

The first clue that we are in a kind of scientific fiction are long light tubes which light while the patients are on respirators. The lights alert the staff, and us, to the current state of the patient's dreamworld.

As the woman is assigned to one patient she watches and waits. In the meantime as she sits, she reflects on her own life.

Somewhere in this process, level two opens up when she gives an offering at a temple and later one of the temple goddesses shows up and talks to her. Becomes a companion.

Are you still with me?

Don't try to follow this.

The rest is dream like but one of those dreams where you are awake or think you are. Quite convincing. Very good.

There are, at times, long quiet spots of reflection. Chickens walk by. A "herd" of baby chicks following a hen. Then there are people walking in what seem to be random patterns until slowly we realize this is not random. There is a distinct choreography.

I would like to see this again so I can watch all this stuff which rates this film a rare 5 out of Netflix5.

Labels: best films, films

The results of gay activism are slow to show.

But now, the harvest is beginning to come in. And it is bountiful.

N.C.A.A. Moves Championship Events From North Carolina, Citing Anti-Gay-Rights Law

Long headline.

We are part of the fabric now. Not to be sidelined.

The fact is that there are, really really, gay players. That helps too. They are out in their teams.

Gays are good at fancy footwork and shooting at hoops just like anyone else. Except me. I never got basketball. Not dribbling, not shooting, not any of it.

It has been an honor and a privilege to live at this time. To show up at gay marches when they mattered most. To be open and out in my work. To take advantage of all the new opportunities like marriage.

Gay pride is not a theory. It is for living. Acting. Being one's true self in the world.

Labels: gay rights

Today's film is a concentrated version of a 3 hour Thai film.

The Protector (2005)

The scenes that were left by the Weinstein Company are pure martial arts mayhem. Thai style.

The story does not matter.

The fight scenes do.

If you do not like that kind of thing then you are missing something.

This one claims that no wires were used. I believe it but still the workouts are really breathtaking.

The film also has elephants. The hero is avenging the loss of his adult elephant and rescuing her baby.

Lassie like plot.

Only bigger.

I cannot imagine watching this for three hours. But at 85 minutes it was OK. A 3 out of Netflix5.

If you don't like fighting and half naked heroes then it is probably not for you at all. I suppose that it is also a plus if you like oriental men. Look, why else would I watch this? It is pure eye candy on the move. With tricks.

Watch out, there is a trailer on the trailer but it does not last long.

Another review I couldn't pick one.

Labels: films

The thing about gay marriage is the difference between approving of it and actually doing it.

We were early adopters of all the California gay marriage initiatives and even moved to a place where the percentage of gay marriage is very high.

Up to now there has been no data to support this contention but now there is. Or at least a good stab at the matter through the filing of joint tax returns.

The Most Detailed Map of Gay Marriage in America

That dark orange splotch at the bottom of California is our area of the State. Palm Springs and surrounds. See the chart below the map at the link.

As a percentage we top all but the largest urban enclaves of gay men and women.

We are not running for first prize in this. But we can be proud that we put our actions where are beliefs are.

One of the abiding disappointments of the gay marriage movement is that more couples did not take steps to get married at the time. But that is changing. The momentum is there now and we can expect a lot more matrimony between gay couples.

There was a lot of argument about whether gay marriage was "needed". After all, gay men coupled and stayed with each other for many years.

Many families had its "uncles" who lived with "a friend". Room mates. We were asked at the beginning if we were "room mates".

We have always answered that with a definite "no, we are lovers". Then "partners". Now husbands.

For those who think it doesn't matter, just try it. Or ask any gay couple how it felt to tie the knot. You will get a loud affirmative. It changed everything. In a good way. We were joined and joined society. The whole reason for marriage in the first place. Even the cave men knew it.

Labels: gay marriage, Palm Springs

Today's film is anachronistic.

Bells Are Ringing (1960)

Its theme is answering services and the machinations of the operator to make her client's lives better. We all have our own answering now. Switchboards are in museums. Time erases the present very quickly.

I saw the original in 1956 as a Broadway show.

Film adaptations of theatrical productions don't work very well very often and this is no exception but if one saw the original show the identification can be strong. Without that emotional tug this film would not really work as well.

Few of the original cast remain. Judy Holiday is the star and my old friend Jean Stapleton breaks in her patented dumb bunny routine. The one that eventually went mainstream on All In The Family. Very good.

But Dean Martin is the client who Susan falls for and Eddy Foy is the bookie who highjacks the answering service. These substitutions are only adequate. I saw Eddy Lawrence and Sidney Chaplin.

I miss them here. Martin is too laid back and Foy is a fish out of water.

Nevertheless, I bought the DVD as it is not available on Netflix. I had found myself doing mental singing of the main tunes. A sure sign I needed a fix.

That itch is scratched and now I can go back to other other head songs.

So I am going to give it a 3 out of Netflix5 even though I might get it out and FF here and there.

I also got the DVD to see Judy Holiday again. She died five years after this film very sadly and suddenly from cancer. I still get sad over that.

Labels: films

Hillary is a "bitch".

There feel better?

And long may she wave.

The fact is that bitches of both genders rule.

I somehow feel that I qualify. As a gay man I suppose you can know that the "inside talk" often uses this word. Bitch.

The Bitch America Needs

So.

Out of the closet and into the streets.

Let's just let it out. Our own inner bitch.

If there is someone who can kick some ass, I think it is Hillary. She is toughness personified and it is finally time to just say so.

She is formidable.

I suspect that the debates are going to be a spectacle of put downs and take downs. Not from the blond boy, the "Gorgeous George" of our times.

But by the bitch.

I have noticed, haven't you, that Clinton has cultivated a different voice. It is a little gravelly. A bit of a snarl behind ready to leap out.

Watch out Donald.

You know, to be completely sexist about it, Donald is susceptible to blondes.

He falls for them and to them. Disarmed. Do you think that Clinton's hair looks a little more golden lately?

I don't want to project into the future.

I am not a fortune teller. But the idea that the big macho man could be taken down by a "girl" is too tasty to resist.

I will wait and see but I think this guy has it right.

She is the bitch we need. The word loses its power when put that way, eh?

Labels: Hillary Clinton

There is no doubt that Alexander Putin has muscles.

He shows them frequently. And not bad, actually.

He loves to ride horses and is a man among men.

He also ran the KGB in Russia and kicked a lot of ass and more along the way. A tough guy. Perhaps you would call him a thug. I would. The macho pose, the butchness. Is that a word?

Of course, he is also a die-hard Red and has a lot of blood on his hands.

Sorry. I am of the old school. "Commie red bastards" and so on. I grew up with my father's dinner conversations.

But my own rant lies low so I don't go on about it.

Putin. The devil.

In any case, Putin is not admired by many people. But someone !

Putin, Admired by Donald Trump, Emphasizes Strength as Virtue

Of course, I am pretty sure that The Donald doesn't have any muscles. Though while he probably hasn't tortured anyone personally he has certainly held some feet to the fire.

Why do I think that he is cruel? The lip? The sneer?

I will stop there.

I have never demonized the Russians. After Stalin who I grew up with the successors all seem like a bunch of pussy cats. But not Putin. Take a look at those beady eyes.

So, if you are so inclined you can get the American version. Vote for Trump. There is no doubt that four years or more of old fluffy hair would be a kind of torture. And we surely do not want to see him with his shirt off. Please.

Labels: Donald Trump, Putin

Today, a film about a movie about making movies.

Lots of levels in the Coen Brothers'

Hail Caesar (2015)

with a lot of stars including George Clooney and the Coen cast.

There is a lot to be enjoyed in this. But once is enough for me.

There comes a point where parodying a parody becomes lame and boring and, watch out, it is very difficult to be original. The Coen's trademark.

They already did a movie film, Barton Fink and that was enough already.

There are too many easy targets for this to be any more than amusing. I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 as one more time would be too much for me.

I sense that I am in the minority here. Well, so be it. My usual place I guess.

Labels: films

I'll See You In My Dreams.

In fact, one of the other actors, Sam Elliot, is the real reason I ordered this. But there are lot of other reasons it is a fine film.

Of course, I would be a sucker for a movie about late age romance. In this case with two men, not one.

It is not exactly clear why, other than fate and circumstance, this awakening occurs but that is OK. It is enough to say it is/was because they needed to make this film.

And it is about aging. Not a popular Hollywood subject, so we should take what we can get. In fact it celebrates age. Great!

There is no smirk in this film at all. No pandering.

Look, as the famed Betty Davis said "old age is not for sissies" and this woman in this film is no sissy.

I enjoyed it very much and will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films

Today's film valiantly tries to make those of us who don't know or want to know about chess a part of the picture.

It failed utterly with me.

Like the game.

I could never conjure any interest for it when I was a kid.

I tried.

The smart kids were in the chess club. I was smart but an intuitive thinker and not up for the challenge of a logic game.

I am also averse to the idea of combat or even the notion of win/lose.

So today's wildly acclaimed, award winning picture, fell like a thud for me.

The Dark Horse (2016)

The hook for people like me was human interest. But it was hard. The main character is a kind of idiot savant. A homeless guy, incapable, mentally challenged. Or mentally ill. His one bright spot is chess. He is bafflingly good at it.

Well, I was baffled.

And here is the other thing. It is pretty much one of the thirteen standard plots. Up from the bottom with the one thing you are good at. Inspirational. Not my cup of tea either.

So, I had to drop out of it. That means that it gets a 1 out of Netflix5 for me.

A bit unfair I suppose. A lot of people liked it a lot.

But all that checkerboard shit. Too much.

Labels: films

Every two weeks we turn the house over for cleaning.

A crack team comes in and does the necessary dusting and mop up.

It is hard to stay out of the way.

In the summer it is too hot to go outside while they are here but now, the first of the season, it was OK to go sit out back on the patio while they cleaned and mopped and all.

We tried doing it ourselves once. A long time ago.

First, there was the dearth of implements.

Hard to mop here and there with one of those stringy bastards.

Then we didn't have the product. Like one's hair. Gotta have the products: bleach, soap, wax.

Then the gloves. Nasty to do it bare. So those playtex bastards all slipping off all the time.

You get the picture.

This lot, they come in at noon and are done with the entire house, all of it, in two hours.

They have been coming to help us for quite awhile. They were hired by the realtor when we bought the place and never left.

Sooner or later, they come and tell us that we can go back inside.

The house always smells good.

Today was a big cleanup day, actually. Marcus went to the groomer this morning. He smells like an old lady. The shampoos they use on him I guess.

All this fades in a day or so and we start to fill the house up with our smell. Our special family aura.

Labels: housekeeping

Every so often we run into a logjam of Netflix shipments.

Usually a holiday kicks the mail's ass and so we get last in line on the delivery of Netflix. Whatever mail class that is. Piles up.>

That means relying on my own DVD collection.

So for a few days I have been watching the films of Marco Berger.

A gay movie maker whose work endures many watching.

I think this is because it is so people focused.

I have seen things I did not notice before. Nuance. Perhaps this is the case of any well done film but with Berger it is inevitable.

He uses several devices actually. One is the frozen scene. People walk off but the camera stays fixed on a wall or a room. They are interesting walls and rooms and one is forced to pay closer attention by this pause.

The other thing about these pauses is that he uses the ambient noise. Street sounds, air movement, machinery all fill the aural space left by the absence of acting or actors.

In a few of his films he focuses on building parts. Architecture. Very nice. "Look at this" he seems to be saying. Observe.

Likewise his actors are very still. Their lines are delivered naturally but they do not quirk around or fidget. A bit like still life.

Sometimes they just sit and think.

It is a wonderful experience.

Berger is young. I expect years of great films.

This Netflix mail delay does suggest that perhaps I should change from the option of real DVD delivery and go to on-line play. Well, I do not think so. I am old fashioned and like to slip the disc in and let it go. I can stop and rewind and even FF if I do not like what I see. Maybe that is possible with streaming. I don't know.

One other thing is that streaming does not allow sharing in the same household. I think. With the DVD John can watch the same show the same day.

I may be wrong about this. I don't care. It is OK to be wrong. I am sticking with the DVD for now.

Labels: films

The argument for "initiatives" is that it gives people like me a say in the State's lawmaking.

But in California, this process is wildly out of control.

The California Voter Ordeal: 17 Decisions on the Ballot

An ordeal for sure.

This is one of the reasons that we switched to vote by mail.

Standing at a ballot box to work through this pile of citizen led government is too much.

And many people will not do it. Maybe I will be one of those people.

I am going to be asked for my opinion on a lot of issues which I am ill equipped to decide.

Sure. The death penalty is straight forward. But is it really? Not if you put it on a yes or no basis.

And so on.

It has worked here for a long time and I am a newcomer to the process, relatively. It makes my head burst.

In Massachusetts we depended on the wisdom of our elected government to do this stuff.

But, come to think of it, that didn't work out too well either.

Government and responsible citizenship is hard. But I am up to the task.

Somewhere in the process I will feel a glow.

The glow will warm me and lead me to vote the way I want things to go. And I will feel involved and more a part of the whole process.

Daunting but quite worthwhile. The feeling of engagement is a big deal I think. Our government. Our laws. Our decisions.

Me! Flexing my own muscles.

For somewhat different reasons than this guy, I am convinced that Trump is wrecking the Republican Party.

I’m voting for Mrs. Clinton because, despite her deficiencies, she will make a better president. But I have another reason. Defeating Mr. Trump soundly will help save the Republican Party. If he wins, a party built on freedom and internationalism will become entrenched as a party of authoritarianism and isolation, which means that within a few years it will atrophy and die.

And I do not want that to happen either, me.

With Clinton as President, the two party system will endure and continue.

She will give the GOoPers plenty to get organized for. And that is a good thing.

The "loyal opposition".

More here: Save The Republican Party Vote Clinton

Labels: general election 2016

I wanted to see a few Gene Wilder pictures.

I also hoped to like them.

But today's Wilder vehicle was a boring and unfunny mess.

So much so that I quit before I was half way through.

I had looked forward to it because it also had the young Harrison Ford. He was such a total babe when he was young. He grew up to be classically handsome of course. And a star. But here he is just a knockout.

But not enough for me to plow through the rest of

The Frisco Kid (1979)

Ttis was early in the careers of both men and so a bad buddy picture seems to have left them unscathed.

Since I quit, that makes it a 1 out of a Netflix5.

It has been a long time since I dropped one of those bombs on a film. Usually the curation of reviews and ratings protect me from the lesser works of great men.

Labels: films

But how much?

It would seem that Hillary Clinton's lead in the polls is insurmountable.

Hillary Clinton Looks Strong Heading Into Fall

But we have been fooled before.

I read all the stuff on the internet that I can stand and not all of it is on the left. I read a few conservative sites as well.

History says that a lead this large at this point is pretty much insurmountable. Or has been in many election cycles.

I try not to be overconfident however.

There is the usual September and October surprises to get past. But these have more to do with incumbents than they do with aspiring candidates.

The Republicans have evidently decided that the money should go to the down ticket race rather than to The Donald.

They too see some handwriting or handwringing on the wall.

This means that Clinton can devote her time to the down ticket as well. Currently it seems possible that she could bring a majority in the Senate along with her. Less so the House but a few outlying pundits see that possibility. I understand this to be a dream more than a reality. The arithmetic doesn't add up in the House.

But it is still exciting and I am excited and as we go into the last weeks it will be a race to remember.

Partly because it would be nice to see Trump fall on his ass.

The Democrats taking Congress would be a big fringe benefit.

Labels: Hillary Clinton

Today, a classic western story brought up to date.

Tombstone (1993)

I am sorry that it took so long for me to get this.

It is a wonderful old fashion western with a lot of new shiny parts including a bunch of highly watchable actors who went on to become stars on their own.

At the center are Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell as key players in reforming the wild west.

A buddy film at heart it even has a teary ending. Yes.

A special treat is to see Sam Elliott breaking into his old cowpoke role. The one he used later in The Big Lebowski.

what a treat. I would not mind seeing it again.

And again after that.

A 4 out of Netflix5.

Labels: movies

Unlike yesterday's movie, today's violent core is not only fun but redemptive.

Meaning, that it is fun. That it is violent. But the violence leads to something at the end. Moral virtue.

And there is one other thing. There is the dog.

It has been a long long time since I have seen a good dog movie. And when all is said and done that is what this film is about.

It is a meld of a whole bunch of Hollywood clichés wrapped in one concussive piece. Bang bang bang!

Guy Ritchie's

Snatch (2000)

Another asset here, surprisingly, is the presence of Brad Pitt resurrected from a dead and boring career.

And so on.

Also a bunch of other actors who I like a lot and do not see enough. Dennis Farina for one.

I would gladly watch this film again. It is fun. Did I say that? It is violent in a purgative way. Very hard to do, see yesterdays awful gore fest.

There are a lot of toughs in this film. All of them perfectly thuggish.

Oh. The title. No it is not about that snatch. It is about the other one, a feat of robbery. But there is a double entendré here not just what you think.

Have a good time. A Netflix4 out of 5.

Labels: films

I bet not one person on holiday this weekend is thinking about the place of the labor movement in our national history.

Well, except for me.

And yet that is what it is meant to celebrate.

When I was a kid, labor unions meant something.

I belonged to a union, the Retail Clerks International. It was a closed shop. We had to.

But there was also the elevation of "labor" as an important element of our society.

Not so much anymore.

What happened?

High tech happened. That cut a lot of muscle out of the movement.

Corruption happened. Unions got dirty.

Bigness happened. Consolidating the union efforts into only a couple of big organizations actually lessened the power.

How long has it been since a strike disabled an industry enough?

Maybe the autos. But Detroit lost the market. Unions helped.

In the "old days" coal was a big one. A guy named John L. Lewis threatened strikes that would shut down major segments of industry. Now no one uses coal.

And so on.

Time buries everything eventually. I am old enough now to have seen a few of the funerals.

It is OK. Time also marches on.

Labels: unions

There is no end to the violence and sado-machochistic goings on in this film.

Ichi: The Killer (2001>

I have no idea how this found its way onto my Netflix queue.

But there it is/was. One of the most violent vividly horrific films I have ever seen.

But I could not stop watching.

Well, I did FF a bit half way through.

Based on a Japanese comic they have not spared the horses in this vivid re-creation of what we normally let pass in a comic but somehow cannot abide watching happen to real live humans.

It does not help to say to oneself that these are "just actors". Even when one knows that it is fake, the utterly blatant and gratuitous mayhem is somehow magnetic. I could not look away.

I suppose that I should be repulsed over this and worry that such stuff is available for people to see.

But I also know that inside me and probably everyone else, there are devils that need to be let out safely somehow.

I truly believe that no individual is going to go out and hack someone up after seeing this movie. Perhaps there is some outlet here that would prevent it. But I doubt it.

As cinema the action is riveting, the people are wonderful in their roles. Even the bodies have charisma. The long shots of high buildings are dizzying as are many other innovative angles. Running down a staircase with the characters, in retrospect, I know was done from a boom camera. But at the time one does not consider the "how it was done" stuff.

I would like to see more of this kind of film. But it is probably not good for me to do so. I don't know. The jury is out about this subject.

I do know that I was rooting for the avenger to do his thing. Even the hard-to-watch eye and tongue work was well deserved by these gangster bastards.

Once is enough though A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, violence

There is nothing better than seeing one of the high and mighty assholes of the world brought down.

The Revenge of Roger’s Angels: How Fox News women took down the most powerful, and predatory, man in media.

Roger Ailes is the modern day personification of the fat toads that the cartoonist Thomas Nast used to go after in the "old days".

Roger Ailes is a slimy bastard and has presided over the rise of one of the most politically biased news channels there is.

I will not go into that part of it. I used to watch the unfolding of these egregious bastards party line at the gym every morning. Faux news. A soup of biased opinion and slander delivered in smarmy tones by attractive women and ugly men.

Which is apparently the culture of the entire place. The ugly going after the pretty. A Playboy mansion for the nerd right wing boys. And so on.

It is always nice to see a guy like this get his dick caught in the wringer.

Well, not literally.

Apparently Ailes success as a playboy was limited to talk and seduction. Otherwise known as harassment. Unwanted attention for immoral reasons.

It is also an example of the pants down exploits of the powerful man who thinks he can force others to submit to his carnal desires or whatever passes for that in the minds of ugly plutocrats.

Labels: right wing whack jobs

The traditional film story of father and son is played out in many settings.

In today's movie it is set in a prison. Scotland. Modern days.

Starred Up (2015)

The phrase means that a prisoner who would otherwise be sent to a juvenile facility is taken to an adult setting. In this case, the hard ass kid ends up in the same cell block as his Dad who is the leader of the inmates. A top dog.

On the face of it, quite unlikely. But in the film it is as real as the second that someone gets punched out by another prisoner as part of the infrastructure run by the prisoners. There are the guards but then there is the system run by the inmates. This is the system that we see.

This is not a "normal" prison film if any prison film is normal but it is very realistic at the level of watching and seeing the action that occurs. Total suspension of disbelief.

I would not want to see it again because of the brutality and the "reveal" of how it turns out. But it is very good and worthwhile for the lives it portrays. They are out there. In Scotland and here in my community. A life apart.

Labels: films

So The Donald went to Mexico and talked to their President.

No one else came. It was a very sparse crowd.

Then he went to Phoenix to talk about the details of his "changed" immigration policy proposals.

He got the usual red-neck crowd who egged him on so he threw away the script and went back to a rant against illegals and how he would deport them.

This guy is not competent to "be" anything but himself.

And that "self" is pretty flawed.

His ego is so large that he apparently cannot take advice. Only schmoozing. He needs the soothing hands of people pleasers and yes sirs.

He is unrepentant and, above all, has no self awareness.

No critical sense of self examination.

No humility. Not even the fake kind!

He is a "one-er" that is for sure. A unique bird that flitters and flutters.

"This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.". A hollow man.

OK. That is enough. An easy target Trumpf. Trumpf Trumpf Trumpf. The son of privileged millionaires who never thought to help him develop his soul.

Labels: Donal Trump

But no one does anything about it.

An old saying but one that has its own built in truth. The weather is the weather and that is it. Deal with it.

We moved to a climate which is pretty much unmoving.

In the summer, especially, there is nothing that changes. The days and nights are hot, hot, and hot.

So we talk about the minutiae. The sunrises. The breeze (if any) the dryness. The fact of "a dry heat". which is true but only means a comfort index drop of a few points.

This article in the NYTimes discusses the dilemma of being a weather person in this part of the country.

Well, Phoenix. Which is almost the same thing.

The Curse of a Phoenix Weatherman: Finding New Ways to Say ‘It’s Hot’

I was first interested to see that this guy reports from the end of the runway at Phoenix airport. The same thing here. The weather station is at the airport. Dual function. Makes sense.

But it also makes for a higher reading. Flat, concrete. Higher temps.

Nevertheless hot is hot and so we just go with it.

As for talking about it? Not much. When I leave my air conditioned meeting or my house and "the oven" hits me I might say something. A curse word. Or a joke of some kind to a friend. An old stale joke, not hot and happy. Just resigned. Irony plays a big role here.

But I am not complaining and neither are my friends. Unlike Florida where the heat rise is accompanied by horribly humid air, we do not have that extra burden. And in the winter? Glorious. We are in t-shirts and shorts while the rest o' yas' freeze you balls off. Well, the half of ya's that have them.

And here is another thing.

When there is weather. Rain! Frost! It is a conversational bonanza. So that is the thing. It is difference, change, the abnormal that gets us talking about the weather.

It just doesn't happen often.

Labels: desert, heat, weather