esrosedotblog

Labels: fun. music

Remember this?

If only.

Labels: 2016 General Election, Bernie Sanders

It seems that the Palestine/Israel thing has been going on all my life.

Yes. It is a "thing".

Man made and concocted out of a soup of entitlement and terror to say nothing of xenophobia and pro and anti semitism.

A tutorial is laid out here.

The Two-State Solution: What It Is and Why It Hasn’t Happened

I have always been interested in how this has not worked. The impediments are so large that one wonders how we got here and, worse, how we are going.

I remember Count Bernadotte.

Look him up.

The Jews killed him. Assassinated by "Zionists". This is always the explanation by the Jewish State. So many splinter groups to blame for cover what is really an untenable situation.

Bernadotte was killed in 1948. I was 11 years old. We were just out of the Second World War. The killing seemed wrong to me and the cover up obvious.

Here we had the Jews starting their own state on someone else's territory (here we go) and actually living out the insanity of such a solution.

For decades Israel rode on the sympathy of Westerners who had seen the Holocaust. A lot of capital letters here.

Horrible.

But my take is that they took advantage. Sympathy gave them a story and a spin. And they used it.

The cover? Antisemitism. I could be accused of it here.

I worry when I type. Not too much though. How could I not be sympathetic?

Look bro', it has been almost 70 years. You have not gotten your shit together yet. Arafat, the villain you used, is dead. And you are still carrying on your entitled opera.

Now I will stop.

I love that Obama has called "bullshit" on them in his final days. Too bad he had to wait so long. HE is tired of it too.

Incidentally, these days, Israel has nothing to do with being jewish in America. Nothing.

Some American jews may be carrying water for Israel but that is another story.

This is so tiresome. Tragic. Goddam them all.

And finally? Netanyahu is a dick and has always been one.

Labels: Israel

All politics are local.

So foreign policy is often about what is happening right here.

The Russian hacking is no exception.

And now, Obama gets some last minute opportunities to kick both Russian and Trumpian asses.

Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking

Now everyone knew this was coming but Trump. Somehow he was too ill informed or timid or perhaps self interested to confront the issue let alone the Russians.

After all, he was/is Putin's buddy, huh?

While this is a straightforward escalation of the cold war it is also a bit of political fuckery thrown in for good measure.

Trump was not bothered that the Democrats got hacked. Well. See? He is now stuck with following Obama's pre-emptive move.

This also tells me that the transition is not going to be all nicey nice for Trump. Obama is not going to go quietly into the night. After all, the Democrats actually won the popular vote.

So much static in the air.

Yeh, Trump will be in the office but the hot breath of the loyal opposition is going to be on his fat ass.

Labels: Administration Obama, President Trump

You know, there are some things that one has always wondered about but they are so insignificant that one never bothered to look them/it up.

So it is with Boxing Day

My British and Canadian friends refer to it but as in some cultural questions I pretend I know what it is so I can feel a part of the crowd.

I know.

How immature of me.

So, it is the box with a present or with cash one gives to the servants the day after Christmas.

They have to wait a day? Nothing like reinforcing the class system.

I do remember the SNL skit about the dick in a box. Still funny after all these iterations.

That is all.

I feel somewhat relieved as this is one of those life long confusions which has never really been solved for me.

It is perhaps a gift of seniority. The ability to look back over one's life, find gaps in knowledge or experience, and try to fill them in.

Is this like a bucket list?

I do not have one if it is. Incidentally I do not plan on either sky diving or any other kind of daredevil thing before I scoot off this mortal coil. My bucket list is very short. I have done most of the stuff I thought I wanted to do and a few things it turned out that I didn't want to do at all.

Labels: holidays

The Trumps are heading for a confrontation on the environment and we are ready.

California, other states and cities set to be part of resistance against Trump climate policies

People should know now that our Jerry Brown is one tough bastard. He has been through the wars. And what is more, he is Jesuit trained!

He and his gang are getting ready to resist any rollback in environmental laws.

Happy warriors.

In our case, treading would get him a rattlesnake bite. Mean and permanent.

The court cases will last long past the political life or endurance of these bastards.

Did I write that I would wait to jump this guy until he is in office?

No way.

Labels: California, environment, Trump Administration

I am very interested in how Donald Trump manages his businesses.

Or how he has done so in the past.

This article is quite informative and it is not biased or snarky in anyway.

Inside the Trump Organization, the Company That Has Run Trump’s Big World

Finally, some respectful press that takes Trump seriously.

I will try to do the same.

I ran a "family" business for a long time. The family was not always blood family but a close network of associates who made our business successful.

I learned a lot about loyalty in those years and was willing to give people responsibility as they earned it. I also learned how to get rid of the people who did not want to--or were unable--to play it that way.

I do not think I was cruel about it. But look. If you are a "partner" then I expect you will act like one.

Read this and see how Trump has done things. I like it. I understand it.

I think it will be tough to take his style of leadership to Washington but I am ready to wait and see.

Oh. What are the things I admire? The slim organization chart. The close scrutiny through "signing the checks"*. The loyalty to old employees who are moved up along with the boss. The swift retaliation for any breach of trust or failure in loyalty. I believe in firing and I believe in rewarding. Reward and punishment equally delivered.

I also like the face to face aspect. And the inclusion of loyal family where some observation is needed. How the wheels are rolling.

I don't have an image for this. Trying something new. More text, less pictures.

*I still sign checks for our condo board and do not relegate it to the professional managers. Same reasons. Power and accountability. Very easy to see how things are working.

Labels: Donald Trump, Trump Administration

Two people in Death Valley because their dead son (AIDS) has told them he will meet them there on a certain date.

Valley of Love (2016)

This is a two character play set in the beauty of Death Valley.

Talk, talk, talk.

Michael left two letters, named these dates. What's up?

It is nice to watch two superb actors work with this strange material. It is also a treat to see Death Valley in wide screen.

Beyond that? French angst in the usual heavy portions. Followed by an inconclusive shrug.

C'est La Vie.

A lot of photography here and on location at the same place we stayed when we visited.

Just like old home week.

We see a lot of the designated "sights". They skipped the sliding stones which are pushed by the wind and leave tracks. A quarter inch a decade. Or something.

The stones move a little more quickly than this film.

It isn't much to watch but it is nice to see these troupers doing their best to breathe life into a saggy premise.

I won't tell you whether the son appears or not.

Labels: films

Pray for rain they said.

A lot of people did and it must have worked because we are being stormed on for the last day and no end in sight until Christmas Day.

We are not in any danger of flooding. The condo is up from the ground but some people do have trouble and use bumpers to keep the water from the door.

In the desert, when it rains. it truly pours and the ground is hard so a lot of it runs off. There are considerable flood channels built to take the extra water but not every developer was careful to provide the right drainage.

Walking and pee-pee for the dog is a bit of a challenge. Marcus doesn't like to get wet. But we put a big towel on the floor when he comes in and make a big game of rubbing him down. That he likes.

It is going to slow and stop a bit today, then come back heavy later on.

It is also cold for us. In the 50s for the day temperatures. Brrrr.

This may not be enough to end the long drought but it will be a good start.

Labels: rain, weather

I am not going to get on the Trump administration until it actually begins to serve.

Too much crystal balling. And I actually am optimistic about part of it. Yeh. Me.

But I can say this now.

I am glad that the Clintons are over. So over that even their friends are now toxic in the Democratic Party.

Unsealed Documents Outline F.B.I.’s Reasoning in Clinton Case

Keerist. We have had enough already.

The problem with the Clintons is that they and their people were always trying to cut off a corner or to get an edge.

And they got caught at it.

I am not sure which is more vexing. The cutting of corners or the getting caught.

At least I am honest about that.

It is time to start over. An interregnum. Let's get another Democrat who is a winner and who is far away from the Clinton curse. Untouched and ready to do battle with the GOoPers.

Labels: The Clintons

I have been waiting for the holiday blues to hit.

You know, that sudden feeling that the whole thing will not turn out well?

The memories of being eight years old and not getting what you asked for?

It is not a big thing.

But these days can be a cliff hanger in the feelings department.

At my age one would think I would be over it all. One would be wrong.

It is not deep and abiding but it is there. The feeling of impending doom or that stuff will happen to spoil the magic.

Then I go look at the tree that John put up. The lights, the red bead garlands.

I go look at the rest of our wonderful desert home and consider the happiness we have in being here in this place.

Soon I will go to a room of friends who have the same feelings and we will talk and laugh about our mix of childish and entitled thoughts. Our lack of being in the present.

When one takes this perspective, things change quite radically.

The other day we all talked about gratitude and its importance in placing us in contentment.

It isn't too hard to generate some gratitude. Not by comparing me with others but to simply count my blessings.

The usual clichés. Friends, family, comfort. But also the ability to still think straight at my age and to put more attention to others. To be of service where possible. To be quiet and hear the still voices of the season. The ones which remind us/me to keep first things first.

I guess I will quit waiting for the blues and start listening for the jingle.

Labels: holidays

The past can kick your ass.

As we find in this film

45 Years (2015)

Tom Courtney and Charlotte Rampling experience that the scars show after all the time they were together.

An old flame of his is found preserved in ice in Switzerland. Lost while the hiking with the husband.

This news strike home just as a big anniversary is coming up and, and and.

There is a lot of drama here that is unspoken. A lot depends on two fine actors to show that all this time together has led to some shallow living. Or something.

I don't want to analyze this much. The viewer is left with their own conclusions.

My conclusion is that this is a pretty good film and I am glad I saw it and it will get a 3 out of Netflix5 from me.

Labels: films

All writer/directors must tell their coming of age story.

My Golden Days (2016)

is one of the latest,

Arnaud Desplechin tells a great tale of a young man's obsession with a girl named Esther.

At one level it is a conventional story telling. But in the hands of Desplechin this film has a style that is irresistible to me.

Thanks to its young cast who are more an ensemble than individual stars there is great appeal here.

The inevitable sex is beautiful to watch.

I would not mind seeing this again sometime.

What a contrast with American films on the same theme (which would be about half of them?)

A NYTimes Critics' Pick.

Labels: films

Today's film was so beautiful to look at.

But it was way overstuffed for the story which is not very original.

A town needs a doctor to get a factory to come build there and so they con a new medical graduate doing public service for drug possession to come be their doctor.

Deep breath after that longish sentence.

You can guess where this is going.

The Grand Seduction (2013)

Too bad because with a skillful hand on the FF, I did a pretty good job of editing it down so that at its predictable end I had a case of the sniffles.

The film company should have hired me to do the edit.

But there is Brendan Gleeson and Taylor Kitsch to look at in the process and that was a good thing.

The wilds of Newfoundland are also gorgeous and they have scenes all over.

There is a great deal of room here for character actors. The time provided is good for them.

I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 just because I wanted it to be so much better. Or, rather, shorter.

Labels: films

I have been on an inadvertent vacation.

Just no desire to write.

Perhaps the post election depression finally set in.

The daily trump march has had me down but not out.

On the other hand, I have not been stopped completely. I am doing all my reading of the same blogs I always have. Just nothing to "write home" about.

It is the interim. All talk before Obama leaves and they come onto the stage.

We are in a quiet time at home. John has put up the decor. It looks great. We await his birthday, two days before Santa. Santa takes a back seat.

We have finally begun a Palm Springs winter. It is drizzling today. Has been since last night. It is needed. Very much. Some optimism about the drought beginning to lift.

It has that bright shiny smell outside.

Marcus perked up when we went out. Stopped to smell the air as he does when there is something to examine through all those receptors.

But things are looking up. I went for a manicure and pedicure yesterday. Being pampered is always a good thing.

And back to Ralph's today with the bi-weekly grocery list.

Oh yes. One other thing. The computer is acting up. Going dark inadvertently. Putting itself to sleep. I am in the denial phase about that. There is always the iPad.

A list of trivial "sorrows" today. Gotta break out of it. No whining. Well, a little, Then on with it.

Being back at the blog will help. The trip to the store will work me out. The computer might have to go in to Apple for work. Or should I get a new one? This one is five years old now.

What to do? What to do?

The answers always come though. All I have to do is get out of the way and let them roll in.

Labels: blogging, palms springs, weather

We know that Hitler was nuts.

But many years of analysis have failed to provide a decent map of his derangement.

Try this.

High on Hitler and Meth: Book Says Nazis Were Fueled by Drugs

Unlimited access with little information about the side effects. Overriding the need to sleep. Driving the mania that the man already came packaged with.

This is just supposition but since I am a child of the Hitler period, I am always interested in answers about what drove this fucker to do what he did.

Straight out. Drugs do not make one DO things.

But they sure can overrided scruples and inhibitions.

i am posting this not so much to clear up or clarify the Hitler history as to illuminate the fact that many present time leaders are also into drugs.

Bizarre behaviors? Delusins of grandeur. The need for only a few hours of sleep a night?

Hmm.

Labels: drugs, Hitler

Today's film is another of those "first films" for the writer/director

And, as is often the case, if it is not autobiographical it feels that way. Totally.

Spa Night (2016)

A young Chinese American boy gets a job in an all male spa.

Surprised to see all those men who came to make out with one another, he identifies and starts to be a patron as well as an employee.

Yes the baths are still an option for some gay men. Anonymous and usually safe. Even when they are straight they are gay.

This is one of those films where nothing happens but everything happens for the boy who does find himself.

There s some adult child of an alcoholic things here. Not very well done but clear enough. There are the usual difficulties with culture clash. Immigrants assimilating. In this case Korean.

Good job. A 3 out of Netflix5.

Labels: films, gay films

I have no doubt that Matthew McConaughey is a guru.

Apparently I am not alone in this belief.

The Tao of Matthew McConaughey

And as this NYTimes article points out, he ain't so bad looking either. Pecs like "toasted buns". Really.

I have not seen all the movies but a few of them, more than once.

The thing about Matthew is that he always appears in films with people who are as interesting as he is.

Now he is selling Lincoln cars and some kind of whiskey using his aura and charisma.

What next?

Seriously, I have always believed, true or not but probably true, that he was just being himself in all the films and the best lines were the ones he made up in the act.

It is a good day when at middle age you get a main page in the NYTimes op-ed.

This is a great video of his transformation over the years. Watch this.

Labels: movies, philosophy

This Mel Brooks film was not received well.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

but I received it very well and laughed a lot again. Same old jokes though.

I suppose that it is obvious but I dare anyone to try to put this kind of thing on and do it better.

I am a die-hard Mel Brooks fan and so even at his "worst", in the opinion of some, he is in the best films column for me.

Perhaps the trouble here is that there is more slapstick than any of his other films. Even a reference, funny, to Abbot and Costello who I loved. So.

A 5 out of Netflix5 because I have seen it three times at least. On the other hand, as a first time it would be a 3.

Labels: films

No film today.

I spent the time organizing my DVD collection.

Well, not so much organize but take out of the DVD boxes and put flat into a big album which holds all the rest of them.

I am beginning to rethink the whole idea of buying DVDs but the fact is that many gay films are not available in Netflix and while they are not all Oscar quality they are pretty good and do reflect the "gay experience" in a way you can't get elsewhere.

So, I am going to catch up. Meaning I am going to sort the discs out, put them in the big floppy DVD "book/album" and then watch them again.

This will severely limit my Netflix watching for now but I will be back to it in due course. Two or three months.

I don't think there are drive-in movies anymore.

If there are, they are not around here.

In various phases of my life I have gone to the drive-in.

When I was married and had little kids, it was the only way we could get there. Later I took them to inappropriate films, once getting a fisheye from an usher over it. I don't know if I did any damage to their sensibilities or not. I just thought they should get to see the world outside a Disney view of things.

I think the film in question was Woodstock, where, they had topless men and women. And more although more in the mud than not.

Labels: movies

Trump's call to Taiwan or Taiwan's call to Trump was all the news the other day.

I wrote about it because it is an interesting departure from long time US policy.

Now there is more about this.

It turns out that Bob Dole the former candidate and Senate bigwig was instrumental.

So all this was a setup to send a clear message to, who?

China? The Taiwanese? Us?

Hard to tell.

But like a lot of other things about the Trump-et it bears watching.

Actually, I do not much care about this. It is passing show. But a very interesting one. This is how the world goes around and around again. And here comes China.

Trump plays cards very close to his vest so he looks, at times, a bit like a dim bulb.

I do not take it that way. He is not mainstream. He runs his own show. He is, as they used to say, a "oner'.

Unique and not very predictable.

Labels: China, President Trump

The space program is a thing of the past.

At least the lunar part. It got cancelled before the total missions were completed.

Today's film is a nostalgia trip but also a real view into the life of a hero.

Gene Cernan was

The Last Man on the Moon (2016)

and this is a documentary about that man's life as an astronaut.

There is more humanity than heroics in this great little film. All the tech stuff has been gone over and over. A lot of astronaut movies have been done and done again.

But this is the real deal including the divorces. the disappointment and the sorrows within the highly touted space program.

But it is not an exposé either. It is just a gentle story about a sturdy (and studly) man who has had a life that very few others can have.

Humble and yet proud.

Very nice. A great guy to spend some time with on a cool afternoon indoors.

This is a big festival award winner.

Labels: documentary, films

When I was a kid, a Methodist kid (when they were middle of the road), we were bombarded with propaganda about the virtues of Chiang Kai-shek, the despot who ruled China at that time.

Actually, it turns out that the power behind the throne was the Madame Chaing who was a converted Methodist. Hence the glorification.

To others less gullible she was known as "the Dragon Lady", an ambivalently evil character from a comic of the time. Terry and the Pirates.

Yup. The church was up to its games then too.

Later, when Chiang was deposed we found that he had been a real son-of-a-bitch and she worse.

When China "went red" the Nationalists ran to Taiwan and over the years, while people have forgotten the origination story, Taiwan is a symbol of commie suppression and glorious resistance to the barbarian in the person of whoever runs Taiwan at that time.

A tired old set of tropes that suddenly are re-lit by the Trumps as, what? A distraction? A new bone to pick?

A reopening of the "cold war". Probably more a goof up by an uninformed Pres-elect.

China Warns Trump After His Controversial Call With Taiwan

What the fuck?

They are patching it up saying that they called him first. Yup.

In any event it is adventurism and just what he said he would not do. Meddling in foreign affairs. And sad old forgotten affairs at that.

Jesus. Is this what we are in for from here on in?

Given Trump's reputation as a ladies man, perhaps he remembers the Lady from his comic book days. Which would be when? Last week?

Labels: President Trump

This is funny.

Why a Washington, D.C. neighborhood is raising rainbow flags

He of the "serious" knitted brow and the sour smile.

He will have an official home at the Naval Observatory when the Biden's move out.

I hope Jill and Joe plant a lot of practical joke stuff around that mansion.

Pence is really irritating to me. He has the look of a guy who just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar but is trying to carry it off.

Or a bully.

Or a guy who somehow lucked into high office because he was a sop to the right.

A particularly odious choice to say "fuck you" to the rest of the dying Republican Party.

Labels: Trump / Spence

This is the first film I have seen about the addiction to hormones.

The main character has to have testosterone because he cannot produce it naturally.

How he came to be that way and what happens when he becomes addicted to the essential drug is the theme of

Bullhead (2011)

I got to this film because I am trying to see all of the work of Matthias Schoenaerts, who bulked up for this role naturally without the steroids that his character has to have.

There is a lot of violence in this film and a few distractions in the plot which make it a bit hard to watch.

When on the screen, Schoenaerts is a force of nature. A beauty trapped in a beast's body. When he is off stage, things lag.

This is a classic plot, one of the thirteen universal stories. The tragic hero.

I liked this film a lot but had to look away a few times. There are animals involved and while there is a scene where they have to take a calf not one of them is hurt.

Not so much can be said of the guys who get pummeled and beaten up along the way.

One more thing. It was a nominee for best foreign film in the Academy Awards.

This film is a 3 out of Netflix5. Not for everybody and almost not for me but when I was done I watched the "making of" bits to come down from my own adrenaline high. I usually do not do that. I let the film stand on its own.

But t his time I needed to detach and the little short helped.

The blog is 13 years old this week.

See all the dates in the archive there to the right?

That is me writing my fingers to the bone.

I have had a good time for the most part. Enjoyed it.

A few times, I announced that I was giving it up.

Some kind readers urged me not to.

If that was not enough, after a little while, I got the itch again and resumed my work.

A lot of people keep journals. Mostly private. That is not me. I am not much for closeted confessionals.

On the other hand, the public nature of the blog does cause me to harness myself in.

Language for one thing. There are only so many "fucks" I do not want to give.

My aim is to try to write clearly and grammatically. I ended my work life as a writer and so once grooved, the practice is worth maintaining. Of course then I had editors and copy readers. Not now.

Just the jerky spell check which "corrects" incorrectly more often than not.

A perennial pain.

The public nature also makes me think. There are not many posts where I just pull it out of my ass. Sometimes it takes half a day of "thinking" or marinating. Occasionally, I go back later and either insert or delete something that came to me after I felt I was done.

Another outcome of the blog is that I finally learned touch typing. I wrote about this recently. Now that was a change. Valuable time lost hunting and pecking is gained back.

Thank you Mavis Beacon. You are the best.

Writing the blog also gives me purpose in my geezer years. I need that stimulus, obligation, activity. The volunteer work on the condo association helps too but that is sporadic and not me alone. There, I fulfill my need to engage in teamwork. Another nice exercise. Practicing what I preached for many years.

So happy birthday to my blog and many happy returns.

Someone asked me if I go back and read the blog at all.

No. Not really. It is over for me. I am like an actor who does not go see his or her movies. I lived it once, I wrote about it once and that, by gosh and by golly, is enough.

Labels: blog, blogging

I mentioned that our outside lights are up and running.

Flash, flash. Twinkle.

Now we are into the second day of our annual advent "tree". It is an advent calendar made of two wooden trees that we bought a long time ago. One tree was not enough. The two somehow satisfy. So John glued them together.

There are a set of little drawers at the bottom and each holds two little ornaments.

We take turns opening a drawer and putting the ornaments on.

This is done together of course.

After 40 years together there are a lot of little traditions that are followed without question.

Very few are given up.

This one is sure to endure because it is a lot of fun. Even Marcus, who has seen two of these ceremonies, gets excited. Not that he has a clue WTF is going on.

He is not our child by any means. He is a wonderful dog who has a sixth sense about what is happening in the house. So we include him. It makes him happy. Us too.

At this holiday time he makes a good surrogate for other family which is so far away back east.

Labels: holidays, traditions

The NYTimes has a new toy.

A 360 degree camera that gives a wide eyed look at various places in this country.

This one is seasonal.

Peer Out From a Bergdorf Window

How about Sandboarding in Peru.

There is another one of a Trump rally in Ohio. And you don't have to actually be there!

Another of a derrick placing a cross on the top of a church.

The quality is not the best. And it helps to lean into the screen a little. But these are pretty good improvements on one's need to crane and rubberneck.

Also a solution for those of us who wish a photo showed more than the specific frame. A look behind and to the sides.

Labels: photography

Today's film is a Danish entry into the war chronicles.

By that, I mean that it tells a conventional story set in modern warring times but with a Danish perspective.

Krigen / A War (2016)

A battle decision is made, civilians are killed, the officer who gives the command is held responsible and court-martialled for his decision.

What is different here is the close proximity to the "dogma" style of film making.

One feels right in the middle as no other battle film I have seen. Heads down goddamit incoming! Bang. I ducked.

Despite the conventionality of much of the film it is still good to watch if you like that kind of thing. There are some gruesome scenes but nothing you have not witnessed in a film before. Although the "reality" bites.

I give it a 3 out of Netflix5. Not going to see it again but I am glad I saw it this time around. I was due a blood and guts war film. This is it. There will be another one next year. The same drum keeps beating. Wars, Films.

One last thing. Do not miss the Nordisk Film polar bear sitting on the top of their logo. A Scandinavian equivalent to the MGM lion as an opener.

Labels: films

I think that gay people can only expect the worst from Mike Pence.

The man with the knitted brow and intense expression.

Intense Pence.

He has bully and con-man written all over him.

It is a standard "look".

When I was a kid, a faker and trouble maker named Ray wore this look. A feigned innocence, a 'who me" kind of expression of "watch your ass".

I am pretty sure he is no friend of gay people or gay rights. That look usually hides hostility and a lack of generosity to say nothing of downright Grundyism*.

And he has a history of favoring "conversion therapy" which is a bit like the Kubrick movie Clockwork Orange.

Mike Pence and ‘Conversion Therapy’: A History

I have met a lot of guys like him. They usually strut and wave their penises at each other to indicate top dog.

It is OK to smile here. Jokes have to be made or we would cry. In a way these guys are hilarious with their bullshit.

I do not have a lot more to say about this. While I believe that Trump is not even an agnostic when it comes to "morality" he picked a prig for his backup. One of those kids who is watching you and will tell the teacher if you pick your nose.

Do you get the impression that I do not like the son of a bitch? You got it. Right from the get go.

Mike is a classic dick and could only be from Indiana where they grow them along with the corn.

*Mrs Grundy is a figurative name for an extremely conventional or priggish person,[1] a personification of the tyranny of conventional propriety. A tendency to be overly fearful of what the respectable might think is also referred to as grundyism.

Although she began life as a minor character in Thomas Morton's play Speed the Plough (1798), Mrs Grundy was eventually so well established in the public imagination that Samuel Butler, in his novel Erewhon, could refer to her in the form of an anagram (as the goddess Ydgrun). As a figure of speech she can be found throughout European literature.