Stitched Up + Downtown + "Minnie And Moskowitz" At CSUN

Happy Late Thursday Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a good day. Pearl's hairdresser was finally back from Vietnam, so I took her to her appointment for the first time in a month. I saw your posts via Stitched Up Heart, and besides being extremely cool that your friend Randy is celebrating two years of sobriety, I also noticed something in the picture of him atop Mount Lee, which is where the Hollywood sign is located. Mount Lee is part of the Santa Monica mountains, which run along the south end of the Valley. On the other side of the Santa Monicas is Hollywood, and the sign faces Hollywood (obviously, lol). But ten miles from Hollywood is Downtown L.A., and if you look just to the right of Randy's uplifted right hand (left in the photo), you will see something neat : the same line of tall buildings that appeared in my photo from the top of Mission Point in Granada Hills, which is about 20 miles from Hollywood. In other words, from where he is standing, Randy can see the skyscrapers of Downtown. For him, they are unobstructed by any mountains, but I could also see, and photograph, the same line of buildings from a mountain 20 miles north, and looking over the top of the Santa Monica mountains. Pretty neat, I think. I think I mentioned that I used the digital zoom feature on my cam for the very first time to get that shot, but it's a trip to see those buildings in Randy's shot as well.  :)

I saw the other pic too, of Stitched Up in Vegas, so I am thinking you are gonna be shooting them at some point soon. They are doing well, touring regularly, nice to see.  :)

Tonight at CSUN we saw "Minnie And Moskowitz" by Cassavetes. It is the story of a fairly sophisticated woman (played by Gena Rowlands), who works at the L.A. County Museum Of Art, who after a series of horrible dates, meets by happenstance a longhaired, decidedly unsophisticated and boisterous parking lot attendant played by David Lee Roth lookalike Seymour Cassel. He rescues her from the aggression of a man on one such date, and the rest is history, or at least it is the rest of the movie, as they get to know each other. Being a Cassavetes movie, this means that they get to know each other through a series of continuing confrontations. In this case, unlike the previous Cassavetes movie we saw - the excrutiating "Husbands" - the hijinks are actually pretty funny, and the movie has something resembling a storyline. I liked it, as a fiesty romantic comedy, but Grimsley almost walked out. He is not doing well during the current Cassavetes retrospective, and I advised him that he may not make it through next weeks' film, the Gena Rowlands tour-de-force "A Woman Under The Influence", which is almost three hours of Gena going insane.

I am liking the retrospective myself, and while it is not Bresson, or the poetic cinema of my favorite artistic filmmakers, at least it is original. Cassavetes is nothing if not that, and with "Minnie And Moskowitz" we at least got a scenic tour of classic 1970s Hollywood, with a stop at the legendary CC Browns' Ice Cream Parlor (long defunct), where my Dad took me and Chris when we were kids. Also seen is the famous Palomino Club, where so many famous acts played and which closed up about 20 years ago.....

Looking at the scenes in Hollywood, it occurred to me that Hollywood Boulevard was much more "lit up" in those days, with neon and sparkling signs everywhere, from theaters to bookshops and liquor stores. It looks a bit more sedate nowdays.............but only just a bit.

Well, that's all for tonight. I trust all is going well. :)

I will see you in the morning, SB. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Another Great One + Aliso + Crane Flies Are Everywhere + "Outer Limits"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

That was yet another great photo this morning, and you may be your own best model. :) I take it that the unseen hand is holding the phone that triggers the camera? It is certainly an iconic shot of you, and the way in which your hair is swept all to the far side displays both your profile and your exceptionally long hair. You could be a Rock Star/Movie Star/Fashion Model (take your pick), or.....maybe best of all.....you could be You.  :)

You did not specify the location, but it looks like some nice cliffs in the background.

I also saw a post with Stitched Up Heart, heading out on the road to Las Vegas. Maybe you are gonna join them at some point? As usual a guess on my part, but I hope you get to shoot some of the shows. :)

A full length hike at Aliso for me, on a gorgeous 90 degree afternoon. The water is still running in the creek, almost six weeks after that humongous rainstorm, which was basically the last real rain we got. So the creek is like a drain, and the water is still draining. Nature boggles me.....

We've got these bugs everywhere, and I mean everywhere, that we used to call Daddy Long Legs, and we always thought of them as mosquitos. Now they are acknowledging the infestation of them in the news, and calling them Crane Flies, and saying they aren't Skeeters. They are swarming in the zillions cause of the rain, and you have to be careful opening the door - no matter where you are - because a bunch of 'em will fly inside and creepy crawl your walls and windows. Gross, I know, but they are all over the place!

That was all the news for today, except for tonight I watched an episode of "Outer Limits", the legendary sci-fi series from the early 60s which was one of the first shows I ever remember watching. I've had Season One on dvd for about ten years, but I finally got Season Two (the final season) just today, in the mail from Half.com, and I watched a great episode from 1964 called "Soldier", written by sci-fi legend Harlan Ellison and starring Michael Ansara as a Super Soldier from the future. Ellison could not have known it at the time, but his story presaged a lot of research and experimentation by the military into creating such a soldier, one without emotion and impervious to pain, who carries a laser gun for a weapon. In fact, the ultimate premise of "The X-Files" over the course of it's nine year run rests upon the concept of world domination by an army of indestructible Super Soldiers, created by the military. So this episode of "Outer Limits" was very much ahead of it's time, and also very influential it seems....

That's all for today. Hooray for Spring and beautiful weather.......and rock formations. :)

See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Great Photo + Service This Morn + JFK : Great President, Disappointing As A Person

Happy Tuesday Night, my Darling,

That was a spectacular photo this morning, with amazing color tones and a pastel texture. It looked right out of a fashion magazine, and as always you have your model posed "just so". Good work!  :)

We were in church for the service this morning, for Mr. M, and we sang several hymns, including "How Great Thou Art" and "Amazing Grace", and we also sang an anthem, "To Everything There Is A Season". There were a few former choir members singing with us, as Mr. M was a longtime member of the church and choir. In fact, after the service was over I saw our former choir director Dr. Kwon, which was really nice because I had not seen her in two years. She was the one, you will recall, who roped me into joining the choir, against my wishes at the time (November 2014). I protested, but it didn't work, lol, and here I am today almost 2 1/2 years later and singing is one of my favorite things. I told her so, and thanked her for forcing me to join. :)

That was all the news for today. Our internet service was out for a while this afternoon here at Pearl's, likely due to the high winds we have been experiencing, but we got it fixed in time for me to write......

Reading my book "Mary's Mosaic", which is both a page turner and an eye opener to the elite of the East Coast, as I mentioned before. The subject of John F. Kennedy's womanizing is explored in some detail, and it takes a bit of doing on my part (and it would for anyone who has admired President JFK) to reconcile the man as the Great President Who Was Assassinated (and by all reckoning he was a great President), with the man who so callously "entertained" woman after woman at the White House and elsewhere, making Bill Clinton look like an amateur. According to the author, JFK's marriage to Jackie was over before he even became President. She had endured years of humiliation and only agreed to stay on because her father-in-law Joe Kennedy Sr. offered her a trust fund for life if JFK became President.

I know this is all "old history" for you, but for me it was part of my childhood, and it is dismaying to see the way these people lived, even if we admired them as leaders.

No matter what, though, JFK did not deserve what happened to him, and as for LBJ, there is nothing to admire about him whatsoever.

I can't believe Trump is still president. No "Capital P" for him, his presidency is definitely lower case. He is the worst president in the history of the country, and I don't know why I am even mentioning him because I swore I wouldn't!

I said to Grimsley that Trump was the Biggest "Jerk" (except I didn't use the word "Jerk") in the history of America. Grim asked, "Well what about LBJ? Wasn't he a bigger 'Jerk' "? Grim has heard my discourses on Lyndon Johnson of late.

But I said, "No. LBJ was certainly a bigger sociopath and mass murderer than Trump, and more evil too.....

But he was not a bigger "Jerk" (insert actual word here).

Trump is the Biggest You-Know-What In The History Of America, and no one will ever overtake him. I'll try not to mention him again, or at least for a while.......

See you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Monday

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

As always, I hope you had a nice day. I only saw the one post from James, about the coffee, so I guess you are either very busy of late, or else FB isn't working properly, which would not be surprising.

Anyhow, I'm just checking in to Say Hey. Tomorrow morning is the funeral service mentioned in last night's blog. It will begin at 10:30 and should be over by noon. There is a luncheon afterward, though I don't know if we will stay for that as it is hard for Pearl to get through hours-long events these days.

The Kobester went to the groomer today, and looks super cute, with a short haircut on his head and face, so he is no longer The Lion King anymore. Now, he's got a Little Round Head with a Pointy Nose that was installed at The Naugahyde Shop, all covered in short white fur.

Did you know that all dog noses are made of Naugahyde? It's true.

That's all I know for tonight.

See you tomorrow, after the service. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Sunday + Mr.M + Sarah + "Mary's Mosaic"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day and a good weekend. We had good singing in church, as always, but we also learned that one of our long time choir members had passed away. I'll call him Mr. M. He sang bass, and was in the choir for years before I joined. Mr. M was one of the first people I ever met at the church, when I started working for Pearl in 2010. He was a very nice man, and had also taught math for many years at Northridge Junior High just up the street. I had given him a ride home one Sunday last May after church and choir practice, and that turned out to be the last week he sang with us. A few days later he had a fall, and though he recovered from it, he was unable to come to church any more.

Mr. M was 97 at the time and 98 when he passed away. Pretty amazing.

His funeral service will be Tuesday morning and they have requested the choir to sing, so we will be there.

Later this afternoon I drove to Burbank to take my sister Sophie shopping, and that's really all the news for today.

I saw one post today, of the picture of Sarah and her boyfriend. I had thought she was with Steve the drummer, but either I've got it wrong, or......something happened. Well at any rate, it was a nice pic.

And, I am always all for love and romance.  :):)

Now, the Sarah photo posted on the main FB newsfeed, and I just happened to see it (because you "liked" it), but it did not show up in "posts You like", which is my usual method of communication, so maybe that happened yesterday, too. I saw no posts from you in "posts You like", and so I just figured you were busy and thus, having nothing to report, did not write a blog last night. But if you did post something and I missed it, then it also must not have shown up in the "posts You like" feature. FB can drive you crazy sometimes, as we all know, and I wish there was a better method of communication, but anyhow......

This book I am now reading, "Mary's Mosaic", about the murder of JFK's girlfriend in 1964, is an absolute page turner. It shows how these CIA demons....um, I mean people.....work, and in the long run we see that the government of the USA has been headed up by criminals for over 60 years now, and that the criminal element comes out of the East Coast Ivy League elite, and that they are absolutely ruthless. Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Phillips Exeter Academy.....that's where they recruit from, for CIA, FBI, NSA and other Justice Department jobs. They are evil beyond measure, and I should know, but one day the truth will be told and they will all go down the tubes. I have faith, and I count on it.  :)

I hope all projects are coming along well. FB and it's algorithms are a pain, but keep posting and I will see it.

See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Great Pix! + General Friday Stuff

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I loved those pictures of James and his doggie! Those were so sweet, and so well done, I'll bet James is very happy with them.  :) My favorite was the pic of the doggie kiss - did you have to wait a bit to get that one? I've always thought that animal or pet photographers must have to wait for the pets to pose a certain way or do something cute. All I know is that trying to get Kobi to sit still for a photo is next to impossible, which is why I've hardly ever posted a pic of him. Every time I try to take one, he turns his head or moves. But yeah, those are so good - my other favorite is the close shot of the dog wearing the bow tie. That's perfect.  :)

Not much to report on my end. I did take the crew to Lake Balboa, but the rest of the afternoon was kind of in limbo. I was supposed to take Kobi to the groomer at 3pm, but that got cancelled because she was sick, so no hike, no groomer, too late in the afternoon to get anything done.

No movie tonight, either. Instead, Grimsley came over. I hadn't seen him for a while, so we hung out and talked, about LBJ, David Icke, 9/11, Oklahoma City, Trump, Steven Greer, "Moonlight" (the best picture winner) and a whole ton of other stuff. Grim is always a good conversationalist.

Saw parts of "Wizard Of Oz" and "Clockwork Orange" on TCM at Pearl's, this evening and late night. "Wizard" is a classic through and through, of course, and even more than that : it's mythology, it touches something deep inside us, the hope for eternal life and love, and familiar surroundings.

"Clockwork" on the other hand, I found a bit annoying. I only saw bits and pieces, as I did my evening work, but I have always found Kubrick's style to be sterile and somewhat smarmy, as if he is making fun of the audience. The movie has a unique look, to be sure, and an original concept. But the dialogue is interspersed with affected slang, and the acting is deliberately stilted, to effect a "superior", "I know better than you" attitude on the part of Stanley Kubrick, who I have never thought was that great of a director. I know many folks consider him a genius, and an all-time great, but I am not one of those people......

Well, that's all the news for tonight.

See you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

An Outdoor Day + "Risen"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Today was picture perfect outside, the epitome of Spring weather, so it was a good day to Get Out There. First I took the Kobester to Northridge Park, which I have mentioned is a special place for us because it's always so peaceful there. As we know, sometimes a certain piece of land can have a magical vibe all it's own, and Northridge Park has it for sure. While we were there, we watched an LAPD helicopter do a series of "touch & go" takeoffs and landings at the Devonshire Division police station right across the street. Maybe they were training a new pilot. He would lift off from the station, then circle around about a mile or so out, and then come back - real low - and "almost" land......and then he would takeoff again and repeat the process. It was fun to watch, just because we were so close.

Later on at 2pm I drove up to the DeCampos Trail in Granada Hills, which is the main trail to the top of Mission Point. DeCampos Trail starts at a cul-de-sac on a residential street, about a half mile from O'Melveny Park, and winds for 2 1/4 miles up the mountainside to the top. Time constraints limited me to going only halfway, but I had a blast and climbed high enough to take that photo I posted, of the tall buildings way down in L.A., 25 miles distant. I did some Googling and looked at skyline images, and now I think the buildings are Downtown L.A. itself, instead of the much smaller Century City. It's pretty far out that you can see all the way to Downtown, but I guess when you are high up, 25 miles isn't very far. And, I was also using the 20X Optical Zoom on my camera for the very first time, which made the buildings look a lot closer than they were. On the floor of the Valley, you can't see them at all because they are hidden by the Santa Monica Mountains. On the floor of the Valley, all you can see is the Valley and the surrounding mountains.....

I will still get to the top of Mission Point by my birthday, and the DeCampos Trail is quite a bit easier than the trail from O'Melveny Park, which I climbed last week. That one is a heck of a lot steeper in places. DeCampos is steady-steep, but gradual so you don't feel it as much.

So that was the day, absolutely gorgeous outside, with lots of activity. This evening I watched a movie, "Risen", which I believe was released last year. It is the story of a Roman Centurion's search for the body of Christ, following the Crucifixion. He is directed to do so by Pontius Pilate, who fears that Jesus' following will grow if His prediction of His Resurrection is believed to be true. For Pilate, the discovery of a dead body will quash that belief. Not being a bible scholar, I don't know if this story, of the Roman's quest, is in the Bible or not. I only know the story of the two women reporting that Jesus' body was not in the tomb, but anyway, whether the film is historical or not, it is very well done, and goosebump inducing, to be honest.

Modern filmmaking techniques, i.e. stylised high-tech camera work and some CGI-filled out matte backgrounds prevent the film from attaining the artful realism of a film like Pasolini's "The Gospel According To St. Matthew", which I saw a couple weeks ago and which remains the best film I have ever seen on the life of Christ, but having said that, this movie - which is more about the Roman Soldier's quest - is very well done, especially as it is centered around Joseph Fiennes' leading role as the Roman, who makes an ultimate discovery and is converted.......

He is a great actor, and you undertake his journey alongside him, resulting in the aforementioned goosebumps near the end. All in all, despite the CGI "look" of some of the film, it really is very heartfelt, and a good mystery too, which is really the plot of the film. It's a mystery : "what happened to the body of Jesus? Was it stolen by His followers, to facilitate a false prophecy, or was He actually Risen, which is the culmination of the Easter Story?

For me, I of course believe. I have zero doubt, and do not believe the story would have lasted for 2000 years unless people could feel it's truth. That, to me, is the key. Not to be told a story, in childhood, and simply believe the words........but to feel inside, the truth of it.

I shall not proselytise any further, but it was an excellent movie.

I hope you had a great day. I only saw one post, about The Warped Tour, so I hope you are going to the local show, and I hope all else is going well. Post if you get a chance.  :)

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Screening + My Own "Emo" Debut + New York? + Sky

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

So how did your screening go? I hope it was a success on all counts and I hope you had a great time. You're now a "double threat" on both sides of the camera, but then I guess you already were, when I think about it, because while you did not act, per se, you did perform in all your music videos. But now you are acting, too!

I may have mentioned this before, but I was in a student film when I was 8 years old, in 1968. Our neighbor at the time had a son who was attending UCLA film school, and for his final project he was making a short film about a man who was undergoing shock treatment. That procedure was a prominent medical topic at the time, and though it was effective in treating depression and other mental illnesses, it was also increasingly being seen as cruel or even torturous. Anyhow, the student's father played the role of the depressed family man who was getting shock treatment, and I was supposed to be his young son. You mentioned that your role in the film that was screened today was "emo". Well, so was my role. In fact, my role as the "son" was so "emo" that I was embarrassed, haha. I only had one scene : I was out in the front yard (of the neighbor's home), and I was supposed to be playing with a ball. Then my "Dad", who was "on his way to the psychiatric hospital" (and his shock treatment) was supposed to exit the house and come down the walkway, suitcase in hand, and I was supposed to run up and hug him, so sad at the prospect that he was leaving.

My sister, who was also a UCLA student at the time, got me the "gig", and I have never forgotten it because it made me so uncomfortable to do such an emotional scene, and with people I didn't really know. A couple of my friends were out on the sidewalk as we filmed it, and they made fun of me mercilessly, lol.

But, I also always have remembered my payday for that acting debut - I got a big dish of vanilla ice cream with Hershey's chocolate syrup, all I could eat! That made up for the embarrassment, and I went on to "star" in a few grade school plays that some friends and I actually wrote! Those were easier to do.....

And I never got to see the UCLA student film. I wonder if it exists anywhere? That "kid" was ten years older than me, at least, so he'd be pushing 70 now!

Well, so that's my "emo" acting story. I've got some Super 8 films made with friends from my teenage years as well. Gotta get those digitised one of these days......  :)

I saw a post today that mentioned something about New York - a girl who lives there who wants friends to visit. So I thought that meant maybe you are gonna go to NYC? I know you've been thinking about it for a while. I know you've already got Iceland coming up, but maybe a quick trip to NYC beforehand...  :)

That's all I know for today. No movie tonight, just reading my books and working on a drawing. I am loving those drawings Fursy has been posting on FB.......man, the undercurrent in his work is incredible, the things he just hints at, in the shadows......

A quick hike at Aliso, and then some photos of a multi-colored sky when I got home.

See you in the morning, SB. Post about your screening if you can.  :)

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Beautiful Words :):) + "Mary's Mosaic" + "Deepwater Horizon"

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I saw your post this morning via Patrick, and - assuming it was meant for me - I have to tell you that it was very beautiful, and that it made me feel very happy all day, so thank you. :):) I also saw a post about a friend's grandma, and so I thought maybe you were visiting your own grandma? Just a guess, of course.

I was glad to hear from you, and especially in such a wonderful way, and I hope all is going according to plan for your screening tomorrow. It will be great, and it will also continue to build your resume.

Today was Tuesday, so no hike - and anyway it rained this afternoon - but I began a new book, "Mary's Mosaic" by Peter Janney. This book was mentioned by Phillip Nelson, the LBJ author, and it deals with the 1964 murder of a woman named Mary Pinchot Myer, who was having an affair with John F. Kennedy. Kennedy, alas, though a great President, was far from perfect as a man, and had many, many women in his life, even though he was married to Jackie. Mary Myer was one such woman, and she and JFK were particularly close. Well, she was murdered just a few months after the Kennedy assassination, likely because she knew who was involved. So it's one more piece of the puzzle. Last year I worked on the Tim McVeigh/Oklahoma City bombing case and read four major books about it; this year I am doing LBJ and Kennedy.

Tonight's movie was "Deepwater Horizon", one of the best disaster movies I've ever seen. You know the story : the BP Oil Spill of 2010. We all saw that for months on end on CNN, but what we didn't see was what happened on the oil rig, which was truly horrific. It's a wonder anyone survived. The movie spends the first hour setting up the situation, which starts out bad and gets continually worse, as BP company men on board the rig keep pushing to bypass safety regulations in order to speed up a drilling project. Those guys were indicted in real life, and they should have gone to prison.

Films like this are where Hollywood comes in, with it's big budgets and technical know-how. While my favorite films are always the art cinema and old Hollywood I so often talk about, there are a few things that New Hollywood specialises in, and that is a big, thrilling technically perfect blockbuster like "Deepwater Horizon". When they do it right - and you can always count on Peter Berg as a director - the results are first rate.

So that was all the news today. You will have a great seminar tomorrow, so congrats in advance! Post if you can about how it went. :)

I will see you in the morning.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Spring + America Needs To Tell The Truth About LBJ

Hey there, SB,

Happy Spring, and Happy Late Night. I hope all has been going well the past few days. You don't seem to be on FB much, though I did see a post today, via one of the models you have worked with, but anyhow I just wanted to check in and say hi. I really don't have much to report, but I've only written once since last Wednesday and I don't want the whole thing to fall apart. I know you have a ton of stuff you are working on, but anyhow.....

Good singing in church yesterday as always. I am liking that I can get my voice to "do what I want it to do" more and more each week. I am really enjoying the new KXM album "Scatterbrain", as noted on FB. I bought it mainly because of Doug Pinnick, and because the guys at the King's X board were raving about it, but now I have become a George Lynch fan too. He has been around forever, with Dokken in the 80s, but back then I thought he was kind of a stylistic player, a Michael Schenker clone. But on this new album he just pulls off one great solo after another, and is a Riff Monster on every song. I don't listen to much hard rock anymore (maybe because they don't make much anymore), and "hard rock" should be differentiated from Metal (which they DO make a lot of, but which I don't listen to very much either), but this album is a welcome exception.

I finished the LBJ book by Phillip F. Nelson, "From Mastermind To Colossus". It is probably the most important historical book of our time, as Americans, and if I had the power I would make it required curriculum in every high school and University in the country, as well as publicizing it and talking about it on television until it was the #1 topic of discussion in the country.

When I was a kid, John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and it tore the country apart. Then the 1960s happened, with the Vietnam War, and - in the political realm - the other assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. All of those murders were attributed to "lone nuts" and then covered up. The psychic and cultural damage has been enormous, but the political damage has been disastrous. No one trusts the government anymore. Now we have Trump.

Almost every other powerful country in history has had a tyrant in power at one time or another, and eventually all of those countries have had to acknowledge what happened. Germany had Hitler, Russia had Stalin, China had Mao, and there have been many others, too numerous to name.

But we have had a tyrant, too. Not just a "bad" President, or a right wing jerk, but a full-on, psychopathic Tyrant, and his name was Lyndon Johnson. He became President by a Coup D' Etat, because he masterminded the murder of President Kennedy when he himself was Kennedy's Vice President. Then he escalated the Vietnam War, which resulted in the deaths of over 50,000 American soldiers and over three million Vietnamese and other southeast Asians. Then he also was behind the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, with the help of another American arch-criminal, J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI.

So, we have had our tyrants too. Mass murdering leaders, just like Germany and Russia and China. The evidence against LBJ is overwhelming, and yet the news media won't talk about it. We want to continue to deny our history. And then we wonder why our political situation continues to deteriorate.

Well anyhow, end of tirade. It's just that, all through my teen years and up until now, the biggest unanswered question in America has always been, "Who Killed JFK"?

But now we know - without any shadow of a doubt - the answer to that question. And so we should deal with it, now, in order to take the power away from those who continue to keep secrets and continue to make behind-the-scenes power plays, like Trump and the people who back him.

If I had the power, I would also give author Phillip Nelson the Presidential Medal Of Freedom, because to me he is an American Hero of the highest order.

Well, that's all I know for tonight.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy St. Pat's + "Husbands" by Cassavetes + "Hell Or High Water"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I'm off tonight, so I am writing from home, hence the later start time. I hope you had a nice St. Patrick's Day. Did you wear any green, or all black? :) I wore black and grey myself. I don't think I have any green clothes, lol, but anyhow, that is a great photo that you posted of The Giant's Causeway. Those rock columns look like huge posts that have been pounded into the ocean floor. I hope you get to go back soon. I would love to go someday myself. :):)

No hikes today or yesterday, though I did take Pearl & Kobi to Lake Balboa yesterday and we had fun feeding the birds (and the Kobester) once again.

Last night at CSUN we saw a film called "Husbands" (1970) by John Cassavetes. Okay, SB......I have described the Cassavetes style to you. His films are chaotic and emotional, shot often in close up. Everyone talks, and talks, and talks some more, and always very loudly. When they are not doing that, they are laughing hysterically. I described "Faces" as being "In Your Face".

Well, "Husbands" is "Faces" on steroids. Without going on a tirade about it, even though I should, I will present you with what I thought about it today, the day after. Thinking back to last night, I thought it was fairly excruciating to sit through. There is a single scene, of the protagonists (three men who are lifelong buddies) getting drunk in a bar. They begin to act very boorishly, over the top obnoxious, and this one scene goes on for over 30 minutes. I mean, I can't even describe the viewing experience to you. Watching this movie is like getting decked, like Cassavetes is trying to knock you out cold.

It is overlong, almost 2 1/2 hours. But I thought, "you know....as hard as that movie was to sit through, it really stays with you the next day. It affects you. It's not a bad movie, in fact, it's probably a very good movie that could have been great if he had trimmed it down to, say, an hour and forty five minutes. Even then it would have been excruciating because of the characters, but it could have been a masterpiece like "Faces".

And that's what is weird about my reaction to "Husbands", and to Cassavetes style of filmmaking in general : "Husbands" is maybe the first film I have ever seen that I did not particularly "enjoy" watching, but that nevertheless left a lasting and positive impression on me. It's a film I will never forget, in a good way.

So how weird is that? Most people wouldn't last through 30 minutes of "Husbands", because it is so loud and obnoxious, and because people simply aren't used to seeing a film that looks like a drunken abomination. But there is this weird effect with the John Cassavetes' movies, where, if you do watch them all the way through, even though they can be extremely difficult, they are ultimately rewarding - they hit you like a ton of bricks later on, and the next day you go : "Man......that was one hell of a movie".

Tonight I saw a wholly different kind of film, with a standard structure and storyline : "Hell Or High Water", which I thought was excellent all the way through. It's not an art film, but a modern day Western about two brothers who are bank robbers. They have an ulterior motive, however, and a fairly righteous one at that, which causes you to root for them. Jeff Bridges is the Texas Ranger who, along with his American Indian partner, is hunting them down. There are a lot of social issues explored in the script, and it just shows once again what you can do in a little over 90 minutes with top-notch writing. These are characters you care about, and you are hooked into the story. The flat plains of Texas look both dreary and intimidating. I have always loved movies about Texas and Texas culture because it fascinates me, though I would not want to live there. It's like it's own country with it's own rules, and it's own kind of people. This movie exemplifies those things, and it is directed, acted, shot and edited at the highest level of skill. A big thumbs up from me.

Anyhow, that was really all the news since yesterday. I will be off till Sunday morning, so I'll see you in the morning, right back here at the pad.  :)

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Film Seminar + Medal For Being A Cheesehead + "Sully"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I liked the photo you posted along with your notice about the seminar next week. I am guessing it is a still from the short film you mentioned? That is a beautiful doggie in the picture with you, and he or she is definitely tuned in to your wavelength as they say.......it's a really nice photo of you both.  :)

I hope you get a good turnout next Wednesday (and I bet you will), and I hope that those of us who can't be there (like me) will get a chance to see it also.  :)  Both films, I mean : yours with Tina, and the one in which you acted.

I also saw the post via James - his photographic paean to The Sacred Grilled Cheese, replete with a side of Cheese-Its.  :)

I predict he will soon be given the Cheesehead Medal Of Honor, or whatever is the highest order of valor in Wisconsin, for his unflagging loyalty to, and promotion of The Sandwich.

I used to pound boxes of Cheese-Its in my younger days, so I hope I've contributed something to the cause.

I had a nice hike at Aliso Canyon this afternoon, 2.75 miles. I should call it a walk, because compared to a real hike like O'Melveny, that's what it is, just a flat-ground walk for the most part, but it's always beautiful, and the water is still running, four weeks since the last rain. Amazing!

Tonight's movie was "Sully" by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks in one of his best roles. Everybody remembers this story, although in cities outside New York the full extent of what happened was not as well known perhaps. Eastwood presents it simply and factually, but he breaks the story up to build the drama, and doesn't present the plane crash right away. Instead, he begins with an NTSB investigation into Sully's decision to land the plane in the Hudson River, in order to find him at fault. This is what I mean when I say that we, in other parts of the country, may not have known all of what happened. I did not know that he was even investigated by the NTSB; I just thought he was acknowledged as a hero and that was that.

But this aspect, the investigation and the attempt to place blame versus what he actually did to save everyone on board, is the real thrust of the movie. As a true life story, it's one of the best I've seen in recent years. Hanks is so great, as is the supporting cast, and it will put a lump in your throat in many places throughout the film.

That's all I know for tonight. Finishing up the LBJ book while listening to the new Mike Oldfield.

See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Excellent Work! + Sunset

Happy Late Tuesday Night, my Darling,

I saw your post just a few minutes ago, about an event you are going to, the "State Of State Filmmaking", and I see that they are gonna screen some of your work, too. That is awesome, and I know you already have some recognition within the local and University film communities. I also was looking at your professional website, and I saw a section I had not seen before, devoted to corporate work. There were a lot of photos from what looks like a convention, and you got some fantastic shots, the kind of wide shots of convention hall audiences and people mingling, from many different angles, that you might see in a company brochure or catalogue, or on a company's website. Those pix looked great! I saw a badge on one guy that said something like Dept. Of Agriculture, so maybe it was their convention? Whatever the case, you are covering all the bases with your photographic work, from concerts to fashion to corporate to nature. I also saw a short segment in your highlight reel with Coors beer glasses being set down in front of one another. I don't know if that was part of a commercial job or not, but once again, the "look" of it was 100% Pro, as always.

Your pro site is well presented indeed.  :) And I am glad you have the library seminar upcoming.

No hike for me, cause it's Tuesday, but on the way home I noticed a lot of jet contrails (or chemtrails, take your pick) in the Western sky, as well as the remnants of some wispy clouds, and I could already see some color building up, so as soon as I got home I grabbed my camera and headed over to the nearby CSUN parking structure that I always use for my sunset pics. It's just a five minute walk from my apartment, and I was up on top of it just in time to get some good shots. Now, as the legendary Mr. Ibach (my photo teacher) would say, "You didn't do that; God did" - and as I have noted before, I agree with him.

But it's still nice to get a picture of it, and I always like to look for "little special parts" of a mega-sunset, and then zoom in on those for a special pic. So : Mr. Ibach, I Love Ya, but I've still gotta take sunset photos, every chance I get.....

And in the sky over Chatsworth, not far from the Pacific Ocean (perhaps 20 miles as the crow flies), we get the added ingredient of lots of Jet exhaust (and maybe a few UFOs too), which adds to the flux of color and enhances it in all kinds of ways....

That was all the news for today. No movie, but I did watch an episode of "Fear The Walking Dead". Tomorrow I will try to get out for another hike, and hopefully some more shots. I am loving this 90 degree weather and blue skies after all that overcast and freezing for months, and the smell of orange blossoms is everywhere.

See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Monday + O'Melveny Trail + "Knight Of Cups" (oy)

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day and that all projects are going well. I had a great hike today, one of the best I've had since last Summer. I had a little extra time, so I went to O'Melveny Park and went way far up the trail, 1.75 miles in! That's the farthest I've ever gone on that trail (super steep in places), and I was way up high on the mountainside. That trail ultimately leads to Mission Point, and I was probably 3/4ths of the way there! The quicker way is to take the DeCampos Trail that begins on a residential street down the road from the park. From there, you can get to the Point in 40 minutes. But it was a blast to go so far down an unexplored part of the O'Melveny Trail, especially on a gorgeous 90 degree day. So now I am getting back into hiking shape. I will go to the top of The Point by my birthday next month.

Tonight's movie was "Knight Of Cups" (2015) by Terrence Malick. You may have seen my brief quip on Facebook regarding my thoughts on the film. To be honest, I only sat through it all the way because it was directed by Terrence Malick, who back in the late 70s I would have said was one of the greatest directors ever, because of "Badlands" and "Days Of Heaven". After "Days", he didn't make a movie for 20 years. Who the heck does that? But he did, and then he finally came back with "The Thin Red Line", which was a philosophical WW2 movie, a bit flawed but still great.

But then, things began to get a bit sketchy. He took seven more years to make "The New World", about Captain John Smith's expedition to America and his meeting Pocahontas, and that one was pretty bad, though not terrible. Then in 2011, he made "The Tree Of Life", which I didn't like the first time I saw it, and then the second time I thought it was a masterpiece.

Unfortunately, that will not happen with "Knight Of Cups", or it's predecessor "To The Wonder". You can't just throw endless vignettes of scenery, buildings, and people walking around looking mesmerised and call it a movie. And, at some point, you have to have a scene that lasts longer than seven seconds, and you have absolutely got to have a stationary camera sequence at least once in your film. The way the camera swoops and sways in Malick's post "Thin Red" films, you will need some Dramamine to avoid getting seasick.

I wanted to like "Knight Of Cups". It looks beautiful, for one thing (no one ever said Malick is not great at putting incredible pictures onscreen), and it's got great actors : Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Wes Bentley, Natalie Portman and Brian Dennehey.

But they have nothing to do, because there is no story. I don't mean that the story is thin, or not filled out.

I mean that there Is No Story. Period.

If this film were by another director, it would have been one of the worst films ever made.

The only saving grace was it's message at the end, which was however so obvious that one did not need to spend two hours of one's life getting seasick whist absorbing an ultimately meaningless story filled with blowsy philosophical musings.

So I'm sorry to report that, in the last 20 years, Terry Malick has made one tremendous film, but also two pretty bad ones and one awful one.

But, in my book, if you've made even one tremendous film, you are a Great Director, and he is still that.

I just hope he snaps out of whatever is causing him to make these "montage movies", where it looks like he pasted a bunch of short snippets together of his camera swinging around, and called it a movie.

I think I need a lobotomy now. Would you please get Dr. Ben Carson on the phone for me?  :)

That's all for tonight, SB. I will see you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Sleepy Time Change + Good Singing + Good Post + I Might Be A "Young Earther" Now, Too

Happy Late Sunday Night, my Darling,

I hope you had a nice day. I'm a little tired today because of the time change. I was okay this morning, but once the coffee wore off I've been a bit on the sleepy side, lol. Good singin' in church this morning, however. We were down to just six singers in choir (also cause of time change, no one showed up), but we knocked it out of the park. A good rehearsal, too. All of that "car singing" is paying off, I tell ya.....  :)

You should come hear us one of these weeks. I know it's a bit of a drive, but I guarantee it's worth it...

:)

I saw your Taya Iv post, and I know she is a proxy for Sweet Babyism (I mean, I think so....right?), and she always has great pics - "peeking out from behind the scenes". I also saw - just now - your post via Brian from I Prevail. That is a great post, but......the first thing I would tell him is the obvious "don't let Internet posters get to you". From what I can see, he is in a band that has been placed in some festival gigs - not too shabby compared to a ton of other bands out there - and so to even respond to clowns who, over the Internet, make unkind or untrue comments, isn't worth his time. If you are a musician, or any other type of artist, once you start to make it, you've got to not pay any attention to what anyone is writing about you. That's one of the first things you learn : don't read criticism, good or bad. Don't waste your time. There's always gonna be people saying "we love you, you're great" and there's always gonna be people saying a lot of critical stuff, and often for reasons of jealousy. Usually, if a person is not a fan of someone's music, or art, they do not bother to write a critical post. They simply don't listen to the bands and types of music they don't care for, but would not bother to criticize, because they are not otherwise bothered. And they are too busy living their life and listening to music they do like.

And so there you have it : people who write crap on the Internet (a wholly recent phenomenon that did not exist 20 years ago) are just venting jealousy, and by reacting to it, your friend in I Prevail is giving it some small bit of acknowledgement, which it doesn't deserve. So I would again tell him, just keep focusing on your band, and getting gigs, and don't read crap that people write about you, because there will always be a lot of it, both good and bad.

Now having said all of that, the rest of his post was right on the money! He talks about being 100% focused on his goal, and that's the way it's been for every successful musician I've ever read about. In the Van Halen biography I read last year, there are all kinds of stories about Edward, and how literally all he ever did was play his guitar. He told the same story : during High School, while his friends were out at parties on the weekend, he was home, playing his music. Same with George Harrison of The Beatles. People who knew him said they never saw him without a guitar, even at the dinner table, haha. As for the business aspect, there was a famous local story of the band Poison in the '80s. They may have been a Hair Band and not really my style, but they were known for doing whatever it took to make it - spending nights putting up flyers all over town, calling clubs day in and day out, just unrelenting in their pursuit. And they did make it. They made it big.

So your friend's post is right on. I'd just say to ignore the idiots, because they will always be there, and they will sap your energy, which is what they would like to do. The Internet made it easy for Stupid People to come out of the woodwork, because they can hide behind a computer......

But anyhow : congrats to your friend, and to all of you guys, and especially to You!, for going for it; for choosing to do what you want with your lives. We have talked about it and talked about it, and we know you made the right decision, and so have your friends, and I think that it awesome.

And I should know, because my life has been rock and roll (well, at least 90%)!

Well, I guess that's all for tonight, SB. I should probably try to get some sleep in a few minutes.

I've been reading my books today - no movie - and now that I am almost finished with the 1100 page "Genesis, Creation and Early Man" by Fr. Seraphim Rose, I can say that it's probably one of the greatest books I've ever read. Anyone who reads this book will never believe in evolution again.

But if you think that's a controversial statement, I've got another one for you.

I may be a "Young Earther" now, SB. I mean, I'm not sure yet. I always thought that the Earth, and the Universe, were millions and billions of years old. Why did I think that? Simple. I thought that for the same reason everyone else does, because science told me so. Therefore it must be true.

But now I am reading about Radiometric Dating, and how it works, and what it can do and what it can't do.

And there is no way to prove anything in the Universe is billions of years old. It is merely a hypothesis that comes out of the philosophy of evolution.

The Creationists readily admit that there is no way to prove the Earth is only 7500 years old, but they do present a lot of evidence for Catastrophism, which is a subject I have been interested in for a long time.

I won't go on a tirade (or maybe I already did!), except to say that it's a shame that when people think of Creationism, they think of a bunch of dumb Fundamentalists from somewhere like Kentucky or Tennessee.

Try arguing evolution with an Orthodox Christian master like Fr. Seraphim, who was educated at one of the Claremont Colleges. That is how Creationism should be percieved, and a rightful (and correct) alternative to evolution, which, when any thinking person stops to consider it, is just plain ridiculous.

Well, I see I did go on a tirade. Sorry about that! But anyway, I am gonna get a book or two on "young earth theory" (only high level books, mind you) and see what I think. Then I'll get back to you.  :)

See you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Time Change + Another Shot Caller Dog + Summer + Charlie Chan + LBJ

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I'm writing a little bit earlier than usual due to the upcoming time change, which I am pretending has already happened, in order to psych myself out so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour and not be complete toast in church. So, right now it's 12:11am, but it's really 1:11. And I've gotta be up at 8. I can get by with 6 hours sleep, or even 5 1/2, but after that............the Toast Factor starts to accrue.

I like the other time change better, when you get an hour more of sleep, but then it's all mixed up, because really that time change is worse, because then it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon, which sucks.

This time change - Spring Forward - sucks for one day, but then starting tomorrow night the nights are longer, and man do I love those lingering twilight evenings in Spring and Summer. So, overall, I'll take the Spring Time Change, and Daylight Savings, over the Fall Time Change, even though I lose an hour of sleep tonight. We have an easy song in church anyhow, which I can sing in my sleep, lol. It's a traditional Irish melody called "I Sing As I Arise" (for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day), and the irony of the Time Change is in the title!  :)

I liked the photo you posted this afternoon. That dog is classic! He looks like a Shot Caller just like Kobi, and you are right : he is perturbed by the overall situation he finds himself in, and is thinking "Someone will pay later".  :)

It's funny because I was always used to big dogs. We always had Labs, and a Shepherd, and big dogs are so Large and Friendly, and they are like your big pal : "Hey! How's it goin'? I'll just park myself here on the couch until it's time for you to feed me. Everything's cool, though".  Big dogs are relaxed, but they aren't as "in charge" as little dogs. I only discovered that when I got to know The Kobester, and of course I jest somewhat, but only just a little. There really is a difference in temperment due to the size of the doggie, and the little guys are definitely calling the shots.

I see you guys are back in the throes of Winter after enjoying warmer temps earlier in the season. Hopefully the cold is temporary. For us, Summer seems to have begun. Though it's not roasting, about 85 degrees, I have had to use my air conditioner the past two days, and it looks like it's gonna be around 90 next week. That's how it works out here, there no "warm up", no slow changeover. One day you're freezing to death and the next it's Summer. But I'm sure we've got some sweatshirt weather left, probably in April when cool and breezy conditions prevail.

Tonight's movie was "Meeting At Midnight", yet another Charlie Chan flick starring the great Sidney Toler. This one was a blast, concerning a murder that takes place during a seance. The subject of seances was big in the movies of the 40s, when mysticism was becoming part of the popular culture. Anyway, Charlie goes through his usual superior detective procedures and ends up holding his own seance, with all the suspects, to solve the crime. The movie features, as always in this series, the hijinks of Mantan Moreland, who is an absolute riot. I have now seen five Charlie Chans, every one the Library system has, but I like 'em so much that I will have to start ordering more from Amazon. It turns out they made a couple dozen in all.  :)

Today, a hike at Santa Susana, and my usual reading. I am blown away by the LBJ book, and I hope that one day all his crimes will be exposed to America and the whole world. He was so awful that, had he been the leader of a less free country, like Russia or China, he very well might have been as bad as Hitler or Stalin. He was a demon who took over America, and to this day his crimes have been mostly covered up, and we are still paying for it psychically, in the sense of The Princess And The Pea......

End of brief LBJ tirade, for now anyway.....

And that's really all for tonight. On account of the time change, I must now attempt to get to sleep.

I will see you in the morn, and then again after choir practice at 1pm.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Traveling Partner + Feed The Dog + "Track Of The Cat"

Happy Late Friday Night, Sweet Baby,

I take it that you posted your photo this morning, of your friend, at least partially in response to my question, about a traveling companion? I mean, it was an excellent picture as always, and perhaps you and she just did a photo shoot, but because of the timing, I figured it was also an answer to my question.  :)

If so, I am glad you guys are gonna go together. I know you are pretty adventurous yourself, but it is better to go to a remote place like Iceland with another person, and especially a best friend (or BFF as they say nowdays).  :)

I also saw your post, via Joel, about "working a 20 hour day and getting 3 hours sleep" but being stoked anyway because you love what you do. That's what it's all about! (although do try to squeeze in a 5 hour sleep now and then, haha).

I saw one other post, via "Josef" Stalin (didn't know he was a musician, lol) about an album due out in June, so I thought perhaps you meant your album will be ready then, or maybe just that you are working on your album, hence the 20 hour days. If I am right, then I am getting pretty good at reading the messages in the posts. I used to be expert at it, and then I kind of lost my touch, but maybe I've still got it. It sounds like things are going great, however, and that is always nice to know.

Today I took The Crew to Lake Balboa. Our theme song was "Feed The Birds" from "Mary Poppins". We brought along some bread, and that song kept running through my head as the ducks and coots gathered around. Later in the day it became, "Feeed the dog......tuppence a can", because if you don't Feed The Dog you are gonna be in for a heap of trouble. He's the Shot Caller around here; I just do what he tells me. And, I've probably mentioned it before, but he thinks Dog Food is The Greatest Invention Of All Time. He is always suggesting I try some, though I have yet to take him up on his offer........

Tonight's movie was a weird, psychological Western called "Track Of The Cat (1954) directed by the legendary William Wellman, starring Robert Mitchum, and shot in widescreen Cinemascope in some of the most beautiful outdoor Technicolor I've seen, up in the mountains of Colorado (or Northern California, it wasn't clear which location).

The movie looked fantastic, and Mitchum was good as always. You can see why they named a deodorant after him; he is Ultra Macho. And the supporting cast was good : Beulah Bondi, Teresa Wright, Tab Hunter, Diana Lynn.

But it was One Weird Movie, and I'm not sure if I liked it or not. It was a superstitious, gothic Western about a terribly dysfunctional ranching family, led by middle brother Mitchum. He is on the hunt for a mysterious "Black Panther" who is killing the family cattle, and at the same time he is at war with his two brothers, who he sees as wimps. A snowstorm rages throughout the film, set high in the mountains. Meanwhile, the Mom (Beulah Bondi, famous character actress) rails against youngest son Tab Hunter's girlfriend while quoting the Bible, and the Dad simply downs one glass of Whiskey after another throughout the film. Also, a caricature "Old Injun" lives with the family, and he is supposedly the only one with enough wisdom to know how to track the elusive Panther, and yet he stumbles around half senile and deaf for 90% of the movie.

It started out really good, seemingly a snowed-in dark story about a troubled frontier family with a killer cat on the prowl. But then it devolved into a bickering match between the Mom and most of her family members, with endless shots of Dad pounding Whiskey. There was never once a "Cat" shown, despite the title, and the ending was a complete cop out, with Tab Hunter heading out to find his older brother Mitchum, but he finally kills the unseen "Cat" in the process, and the movie ends right there - with no mention if he found his brother or not, or if he even cared.

I thought......."Hmmmm, I'll give this movie a 6 out of 10, just for the photography and the Weirdness". Then I thought......."no, that ending was ridiculous. I'll give it a 4".

But now, I'm back up to a 6, or maybe even a 6.5 or 7 out of 10, just because it was One Unusual Movie.

I have never seen such a Western, like a Soap Opera with dark, gothic undertones.

A lot of it was terrible, but a lot of it was really good. So, I will give it Two Thumbs Up and Two Thumbs Down at the same time.  :)

That was all the news for today. I went to Aliso for my afternoon walk. It is becoming my "go to" for the afternoon part of the walk, and I love it. The water is even still flowing, though much slower, three weeks after the last rain.

See you in the morning, SB. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Iceland! + Careful While Driving + "Rosemary's Baby"

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

"Wow" once again, for Iceland and Norway. I saw a post yesterday, for one of your friend's bands, and it said "Europe here we come", and I thought something might be in the works, just because of the specific message. So that will be awesome, and also an incredible adventure! Are you going alone, or with a friend or perhaps with Mom & bro? If alone, just be sure to be careful in all the ways that carefulness is needed. That's my Fuddyduddy Precautionary note for the trip, and of course you already know it, but as your friend mentioned, take care when driving on certain roads.

I know we've got mountain roads right here in SoCal that I would never drive, like Decker Canyon. And, there is one wilderness area that I went to in 2014, Sage Ranch Park, which is in Chatsworth at the top of a mountain in Woolsey Canyon. It is situated directly across from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory where all the rocketry was done, but anyway, I have never gone back because the road was on a cliffside with about a 200 foot drop, and the pavement was literally crumbling away. 'Twas a very scary drive that, once I started into it, I couldn't back out. I had to continue the rest of the way to Sage Ranch, which I did, at about 10 miles per hour, lol. I've never gone back, which is a shame because the park is incredible. But after the recent rains, I wouldn't be surprised if the road washed out completely.

You will have an amazing trip, however! Shoot a ton of video as well as stills (as if you needed me to tell you that, haha)......

Tonight's movie at CSUN was "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), the famous Satanic horror film that preceded "The Exorcist" and more importantly, films like "The Omen", which share it's theme of a Demon Child, produced by and for The Devil. I had never seen this film on the big screen, and now that I have, I will call it truly great. It was shot at the Dakota Apartments in New York, where John Lennon was murdered in 1980, and the vibe of the building is spooky enough. Add to that the invasive and subversive influence of the tenants, and poor Mia Farrow, who is so great in the lead role, hasn't a chance to get through her pregnancy unscathed. John Cassavetes plays her husband, who literally sells her out to the witches' coven operating in the building. Directed by Roman Polanski, with all kinds of paranoid POV camerawork, "Rosemary's Baby" is a supremely creepy movie, and now I would put it among my top horror films.

Last night I finished Part Two of Pasolini's "The Gospel According To St. Matthew", and all I can say is that it is a masterpiece. The greatest film about the life of Christ ever made, due in large part to the 19 year old Spanish college student, a non-actor, who Pasolini chose to play Jesus. He is incredible, and as mentioned before, the choice of using weathered-looking locals for other parts, and the location shooting in southern Italy in what looks like ancient hillside villages, just adds to the authentic look of the film. It looks and feels as if you are right back there, in that time, living the story as it plays out. And, it is shot in black and white, to create the "pure image" reality I so often talk (or tirade, haha) about. A Masterpiece upon Masterpiece, and I hope Criterion will get the rights to it and restore it fully........

Well, that's all for tonight. You got a lot of great pix at the High Noon Saloon show, too. :)

Glad to know all is going well!

See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Just Saying Hi Again + Pasolini

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Just to say hi once again. A basic day for me, though I watched the first half of a tremendous film : "The Gospel According To St. Matthew" by director Pier Paolo Pasolini. The actual title is in Italian, so you would know it better than I, and I made it a point to watch the original Italian version, which is much longer and shot in b&w. The dvd (from the Libe) features a colorised, 90 minute version, which is dubbed in English (and thus horrible, if you've ever seen a foreign film dubbed), and this was the popular version in America, for those who know Pasolini. I had heard of him, from a long time ago, but this was my first time seeing one of his films, so I wanted The Real Deal. The black & white original is 2 hours 17 minutes. It is set in two parts, and so I just watched Part One tonight because of my work schedule, but man oh man what a movie.

Pasolini used non-professional actors, the guy playing Jesus was a college student, and yet he is very powerful in the role, probably due to being pushed by the director. The rest of the actors simply look like weathered and impoverished local citizens, but this has the effect of making it all look like real life instead of mythologising it. The outdoor location shooting is incredible (I hope Criterion will one day restore it), and it looks like they shot in an area with ancient caves and hillside dwellings that really look like they are two thousand years old.

A friend at the CSUN Cinematheque mentioned Pasolini a few weeks ago, and so - having heard of him but never having seen any of his movies - I ordered this one from the Libe because I thought it was perfect for Easter time. Pasolini's other movies, which were notorious in the 1970s, are quite a bit more decadent, and perhaps not as much my style, though I may give 'em a try now that I see how great this film is.

I saw a couple posts, one regarding drivers in Florida lol. I had always heard that the driving situation down there was an Old People Thing, with seniors plugging along at 25mph. Your post says the exact opposite, but it makes sense in that South Florida is the entry point for most of the coke that comes into the USA, as we talked about last week when I mentioned the Bryan Cranston movie.

I don't know what the drivers are on here in L.A. (probably just coffee, sugar, alcohol, sugar, and more sugar, and what are known as "excitotoxins" - meaning poisonous food additives that produce aggressive behavior), but driving here is like being in the Indy 500. Not all the time, but you've gotta be on top of it. For locals like me, it's second nature, but I can imagine what a visitor would think.

Well anyhow, that's all for tonight. Hope all is well. Post if you can.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Just Saying Hi

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Just checking in to say hi. I hope all is well with you; you're no doubt working on various projects and getting your album ready to release. I didn't see any posts over the weekend, but today I saw a Taya Iv post and photo, and one from an awards show, for WJJO I think, so perhaps you went to that.

I'm just workin' as always. Hikes at Santa Susana (Saturday) and Aliso (today). Tonight I started a movie : "Bloody Mama" (1970) from director Roger Corman the legendary B (or C,D or F) movie director. :) "Bloody Mama" was the story of real life gangstress Ma Barker, who operated in the 1930s during the era of John Dillinger and Al Capone. Barker robbed banks with her sons, a regular Family Gang haha.

In the movie she is played by Shelly Winters, who was a very good actress when paired with a good director. Roger Corman was neither a good nor bad director. What he was, was a cheap director, a "factory director" who just cranked out low-budget movie after low-budget movie, and the results show it. I'd read some promising reviews of "Bloody Mama", which I discovered on Google after watching part of "Bonnie and Clyde" on TCM a few weeks ago, and so I ordered it from the Libe. It does have some good actors, most notably Robert DeNiro in a very early role, playing one of Ma's sons. The locations are good, too. It was shot in the Ozark mountains from whence the gang originated. This seemed to be a more upscale Corman production in that respect.

But all in all, despite the excitement generated by the gang's exploits, the movie just didn't have enough story to hold my interest. Good cast, fair acting, but still...........Roger Corman. I know he is heralded as a "legend" by many film fanatics, but I have never seen a truly good picture from him, and I gave up on "Bloody Mama" at the 45 minute mark.

Oh well, more time to read about Egyptian mathematics and the insane LBJ while listening to Bill Nelson. :)

That's all for tonight. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Your Office + Northridge Park w/The Koberdober

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope you had a nice day. I saw a couple of posts via your local friends that had to do with concerts, so maybe you went to a show tonight. I see on your professional FB page that you have been going and shooting recently too, so that is great. The clubs and concert halls are one of your "offices". Another is of course your music room.  :)

And you are in "the office" a lot of the time.  :)

You are "livin' it", SB, and I think that is awesome.

Today we had another pre-Summer warm sunny day - 82 degrees. When the weather warms up, it always comes out of nowhere, never by degrees. It's just "one day it's 52 and the next it's 80". So, I took the Kobedog up to Northridge Park. I've been meaning to do that for a while now, as soon as the weather was nice. Northridge Park has always been a special place for me and The Pinsch, it's always very quiet there, and there is an enormous green lawn the size of a couple city blocks, so Kobi can walk and sniff to his heart's content. It's extra special there, because Northridge Park is the place I took him after he had his seizure a year ago. Once it looked like he was gonna be okay, I took him up there because of the Good Vibe of the place, so he could walk and get his strength back, and when he did get it back - at age 16 (now 17!) - I was both amazed and grateful. And the park became a very special place for him and me. We hadn't been there in a while, but today, we walked all the way down to the baseball field and back, over a quarter mile total, and to see his tail wag as he walked along just made my day. :)

I am pretty crazy about the guy, in case you haven't noticed.  :)

Right now, both he and The Black Kitty are asleep in Pearl's room. She sometimes comes in the house now, and she likes The Kobester too.

I also went to Aliso for a 45 minute hike. No pics, but the water is still running, two weeks after the rain stopped.

My allergy also stopped, for which I am also grateful. Those things are as bad as getting a cold. It was a little unnerving to get one after twenty years of not getting them, but maybe I won't get one for another twenty.

Well, that was all the news for today. Reading my books in the spare moments - the insane LBJ and the obtuse but fascinating Schwaller deLubicz - and also watching an episode of "Fear The Walking Dead".

See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"Wow" (but also speechless) + "Faces" by Cassavetes + Allergies Again

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Well.........you probably know what I'm gonna say. "Wow"! And you also know that that's sometimes all you can say, but actually, this time I was just gonna be speechless until I thought that I'd better say something. So "Wow"! it is. :)

Seriously Elizabeth, that is quite a stunning picture of you, and not only that but it's also stylish and elegant as well. Everything works in that portrait : your hair and makeup, the patterns on your dress, the tilt of your head and placement of your hand, and the framing by the piano lid support bar on the side, and the section of keys at the bottom. Perfect! We've been talking about Oscars, and you look like a Movie Star. That is One Great Photo, and I am assuming it is a Self Portrait.....

I love the title for your album as well. "Notepainting" infers the color in the music, and to me the piano is the most colorful of instruments. I believe it has something to do with the notes being all in a row, and also in the way they are hammered and muted at the same time by the mechanisms of the instrument. I have always thought of it as a "river of tones" (because it runs "in a row"), and it could also be thought of as a palette in the same way.  :)

Judging from the FB response, you will have a lot of customers, and of course I will be one too, and I will even call myself the Honorary First Customer (not counting your Mom and family of course), but I am assuming you will have physical CDs, and if you do then I can listen at home on my new Sony mini-stereo.  :)

Looking forward to it, and I know you are too, and you've been planning this and working hard on it for a long time, so huge congratulations!  :)

Tonight's movie at CSUN was John Cassavetes' "Faces". It could be called "In Your Face", lol, because it is a deliberately abrasive film, shot often in close up, of people grinning, laughing, yukking it up, and just generally rambling on and on. The story, such as it is, is about the breakup of a marriage of a rich businessman and his wife. He takes up with a prostitute and she has a fling with a young man she meets at the Whiskey A Go-Go of all places (actually filmed there).

Grimsley left me a voicemail that I got when I left the theater. He had walked out, 45 minutes into the film. I understand his reaction, because I saw "Faces" on dvd about 7 or 8 years ago, and while I didn't "walk out" (i.e. turn it off), I did stop paying attention after about a half hour or so, because of the non-stop talking and laughing in close up. Seeing it tonight on the big screen, however, left me with a different impression : I thought it was a pretty tremendous film, when it hit me how coherent it actually is, if you have the patience to sit and watch it for what it is. If you do that, and if you do not allow the purposely confrontational style to disorient you and therefore to disillusion you, you will get quite a payoff and you will see that Cassavetes was not quite as goofy as you thought he was. Taken as a Whole, if sat through with patience, the movie is a minor masterpiece. But if you watch, as I did the first time, and go - after 20 minutes - "what the hell is this", then you will think it is terrible.

I am glad I saw it on a movie screen, and saw it all the way through. There is no movie like it.

On a final note, I have something unusual happen to me today, unusual in the literal sense. This afternoon, I took Pearl and The Koberman Pinscher to Lake Balboa. 'Twas a beautiful day, all of a sudden 80 degrees. But when I got home at 2:30 pm, I began to develop a sinus allergy that got worse over the course of the evening, and is only just tapering off now as I write.

It was weird because of my history with sinus allergies. I have probably mentioned this before, but from the time I was in grade school until I was 35, allergies were the bane of my existence. I would get them on a regular basis, two to three times a month, and they were awful. And the medicine you had to take made you feel groggy and wiped-out (until Sudafed came along)....

But then about 1995, I just stopped getting my allergies. They just plain stopped, and it took me a year or two to notice. "Hey, I haven't had an allergy in a while now".

My body had defeated them.

Until now. I think I've had one or two other serious allergic reactions to pollen in the past 22 years, and today would be the third. I figure the rains caused  a lot of growth and blooming, and today being warm, perhaps a lot of pollen was released, at Lake Balboa and also the orange blossoms at CSUN. Anyhow, it sent me back to The Years Of Allergies, and how "no fun" they are. They really suck, haha.

Today's allergy is receding, and I will chalk it up to excess pollen in the air, and I will hope that my body's resistance is still in place.

That's all for tonight. See you in the morning!

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Rice Canyon + Water + Oscars

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope your day was good and all projects coming along well. We had our second sunny day in a row (temp about 65), so I headed out to Rice Canyon at 3pm for an hour's hike. I hadn't been to Rice for quite a while, probably last September, and it looked quite a bit different. The trail itself was a bit beat up from the rains, which cut channels in it and left debris, rocks and sticks, strewn about. The trail itself must have become a stream bed during the big storm two weeks ago. But the main difference was in all the growth. The whole place looks "filled in" with shrubs and underbrush, and the trees are full of leaves for the first time since I've been hiking there. Also, the creek is running, and in this place the water is moving a bit faster than at Aliso Canyon and the other revitalised Valley creeks I've mentioned since the rains began. Maybe because Rice Canyon is on the side of a mountain, and all that water is coming down. And it's interesting, too, because the last big rain was two weeks ago - and it was one of our biggest storms ever - but the water is still coming down the hillsides and causing the creeks to run, and at Rice Canyon at a fair degree of force.

So as I was hiking, and watching the water, I wondered : where is it all coming from? The rain ended two weeks ago. Did it soak into the mountain? Well, obviously. But you would think it would just keep going down until it turned into groundwater. But maybe because the ground was so saturated, runoff was created. And it's still running off, two weeks later. So the mountain is like a gigantic sponge that soaked up literally tons of water, and it's been running downhill 24/7 ever since.

A geologist would say "elementary my dear Watson", but to me it's really fascinating to see it happen, just because we rarely get to see it! And it kinda blows your mind just how much water comes down in a rainstorm.

I took some pix at Rice, but alas, the light wasn't that great, so no postable ones. I'll keep shooting, however, and thereby taking my own advice which I am always passing on to you, lol. "Keep Shooting" is my photographic motto.

The rest of the day was Usual Stuff. This evening I watched an episode of "Fear The Walking Dead" on dvd, from the Libe. It's a pretty good show, not great, but better than the original nowdays.

I saw a couple of posts today, one was a pic of your friend at the Oscars. That's pretty cool, and it would be a blast to go. My parents got to go a couple times, back in about 1965, 66, when my Dad had some Hollywood clout, and one time my sister Vickie got to go. But the coolest thing of all is that, when you get there, you discover that all the Hollywood Movie Stars are Just Like You. They are people too, and most of 'em are pretty cool, because they started out as artists with a dream, just like we all have done.

Hollywood is great because it is all about building people up to Dream Status, making them bigger than life. That can be looked at from a cynical point of view, but I've always seen it as magic, just like I see Disneyland as pure magic, a place of dreams.

I also saw a post via your friend and client Betty, from Fall II Rise. That was a heartfelt post, and if in any way directed at me, then thanks. It means a lot.  :):)

Well anyhow, that's all I know for tonight. Tomorrow should be sunny again.

See you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Great Photo + Balloons, Toys & Kids

Happy Late Tuesday Night, Sweet Baby,

That was a fantastic photo this morning. The colors are amazing, and also the proportions of space, with the large red background and the placement of the subject and the balloons - it just looks great, like it could be a billboard or something. I am glad that you have another new client, and that you guys had fun making the video. You mentioned the joy you experienced in giving the balloons away to the kids - I know that one of my favorite things as a very small child was to have a balloon. For one thing, there were several different sensations involved. You could bat them around (fun!), or sometimes they popped (startling!), or you could blow them up from scratch and then tie them off (creating), and maybe for me, the most fun of all was to make water balloons and throw them at my siblings........during Summer of course. We had many a water balloon war in those days, and such was the versatility of balloons.

Helium balloons were a whole different thing altogether. They were exotic, they floated upward. They wanted to escape and so had to be tethered to keep them from doing so. To get a helium balloon was extra special, and every kid, young or older, knows the sensation of wrapping the string (usually similar to Christmas ribbon) around your finger so as to get a good hold on the gravity defying balloon. Then you've got it under control. These are all little details that kids notice! Which is why getting a helium balloon is a big deal for them. :) So it made your day, and the kids' day too.

One last use for helium balloons........you know what it is. :)

It's usually reserved for adolescents or teenagers.

Untying the balloon, inhaling the helium, and talking like Alvin and The Chipmunks. Big fun!

But yeah, when you said that giving the balloons to the kids made your and Anna's day, it reminded me of all the sensations associated with balloons, and how kids notice them.......

And I just thought of one last one : it's more obscure, but still many kids would know it. It's when you rub a balloon on your shirt to make static electricity, and then it will "stick" to the wall for a little while. Pretty cool!

So there you have it : fun with balloons from an overgrown kid who remembers.

I saw several other music oriented posts, including the new single from Versus Me. They got a real high tech production on that one, seems like they've got some "push" behind them,  which is good for you too.

Today the Sun finally came out, a clear sky, no clouds. Still pretty chilly, but I'll take what I can get.  :)

No hike because of Tuesday Golden Agers, but maybe tomorrow. Tonight's movie was another in the Charlie Chan series, "The Chinese Cat". These films stick to a formula, but it works, and I've seen four of 'em so far. They are a blast, pure escapist fun from the mid-40s.

I will look forward to seeing your video, it's gonna have a great look, very creative.

And since you have me thinking about childhood toys, it reminds me that - for a couple years now - I've been meaning to buy a gyroscope. Yep, that was another favorite of mine as a five year old. And a prism. Definitely need to get another prism.

And a Spirograph. Do they still make those? Spirograph was one of the great Art Toys of the 1960s, and I made a lot of Spirograph drawings back then.....

But most of all, I think I need a Superball. I don't know if generations since are aware of Superballs, or even if they make them anymore, but a Superball was a billiard ball sized ball of hyperresponsive black rubber. It was the kind of toy they came up with for kids back when all these new synthetic formulations were coming into the consumer realm. Superballs were downright crazy - you could bounce one off the sidewalk and over the top of a twenty foot tree with no trouble at all. Bigger kids could bounce them higher. My own favorite trick was to take a Superball into the hallway of our house, and wind up and throw it as hard as I could against one side.....

You could turn out the lights for Extra Effect : Pitch Darkness in the hallway. And then you would throw the Superball as hard as you could against one side of the hallway.......and it would go wham-wham-wham-wham-wham back and forth between the walls, horizontally, at about waist level, and defying gravity for several seconds.

You just had to be careful you didn't bean yourself. /////

But there you have it - toys and kids, from an expert who just so happens to still be a kid!  :)

And that's all I know for tonight, SB. I will see you in the morn. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)