Happy Tuesday + Brat Fest? (Sonic Boom too) + Cams + Two Movies

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day. I saw several posts today, one of which was about Bratfest, so no doubt you were there and shooting tons of pics. Another post was about the Sonic Boom Launch Party tonight, so I hope you had a blast at that as well.  :) Lots of stuff happening as we head towards Summer!

I was at Costco today and I looked at some cams while waiting to pick up The Pinscher's Prescription. They had last year's Lumix model for 350 bucks. I've been reading up on point-and-shoots, and it seems that since I bought my Lumix in 2012, the market for lower priced cams has bottomed out because so many people are simply using their cell phone to take pix. So, the market is moving toward higher-end cams, and most of the new point-and-shoots are in the 450 to 1200 dollar range. The 1200 dollar ones are supposed to be almost as good as SLRs. I don't wanna spend that much, not yet anyway, and when I do it will be on an SLR. My Lumix ZS-8 was 280 in 2012. The new model for this year will be the ZS-70. So they've gone through 62 numbers in five years, lol. Seriously, though, the thing with me is that I don't need a ton of features. I probably won't be using any video, because (for me) the video I tried shooting already was extremely difficult to upload to Youtube. I'm sure I am probably not doing it correctly, but the thing is that I don't have the time. All I wanna do is shoot still photos. Just so long as it has good image quality and black and white capability. I'll spend 450 or 500 if that's what it takes.

Well anyhow, the camera search continues. The Sony RX 100 is supposed to be good also.

Tonight's movie was called "The Naked Island" (1960, Criterion). It was made by the Japanese filmmaker who also directed the classic Kabuki horror films "Onibaba" and "Kuroneko". In "Onibaba" there is very little dialogue, and in "Naked Island" there is none. It's like a silent movie. The story is about a farmer and his wife who live an isolated existence on a small island in the middle of a bay. The island is in the shape of a steep hill, and everything they do to keep their subsistence farm operating is a chore. To obtain fresh water, they must row a boat across the bay to a small town. Every day is filled with repetitive, hard physical labor. Their two small sons attend a modern school across the bay however, so they are not averse to society. They just seem to be existentialists, or at least the husband does. He is domineering over his wife.

The first half of the film plays out like a National Geographic travelogue, and is a bit dry, despite the beautiful black and white photography and rhythmic editing. But in the second half, a story begins to develop, and we see the family venture out into the world a bit.

Then something happens, and...........well, I'd better not say. No spoilers. You may not see "The Naked Island" anytime soon, but you will probably one day see it, and it is well worth seeing, a very moving and poetic film from a brilliant director. I was watching, kinda going "okay, I've seen them carry water up the hill several times", and wondering what was gonna happen next, if anything, but by the time the film ended, I was thinking it was an excellent movie, one that will stay will me for sure.

Last night I watched a movie called "Went The Day Well"?, a semi-legendary WW2 film out of England in 1942, which makes it a very early entry in that genre, made in the early stages of the war. The story is about a small village in the countryside whose townspeople are visited by a group of their own British soldiers, who are performing manouvers and need to be "billeted" during the course of the operation. Billeting means providing food and lodging for the soldiers, and has been standard procedure in many wars. It means putting them up in the homes of the civilians, and that is what happens in the movie.

But then, one woman finds a chocolate bar in the room of her lodger. It is of German manufacture, and lo and behold, she makes the discovery that the soldiers are not English at all, but are Nazi spies!

The Nazis quickly discover they've been found out, and they take the whole town hostage. This happens in the first half hour or so, and the rest of the film involves the efforts of the people to fight back using surreptitious means, and to let the outside world know of their plight. The story was written by a master named Graham Greene, whose books were made into many films. I don't know if he wrote the screenplay or not, but it shows once again what can be put into a 90 minute format if the talent is present. "Went The Day Well" is a straight-up classic deserving of it's reputation as one of the greatest WW2 films. Made at the famous Ealing Studios and featuring a host of talented actors and actresses from a very early era, and shot in dramatic black and white (evocative of 1940s England), it's five stars on every level. I had been meaning to see it for a long time, and it was finally released on the Nostalgia Family label for a very affordable price, $5.99, and the print is crystal clear.

So those were the movies of the last two days. Everything is per usual at Pearl's.

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

Good Singin' + Monsters In Rubber Suits Rule

Happy Late Sunday Night, my Darling,

Super tired tonight, from getting up early for church and then driving straight to Burbank afterwards to take my sister shopping. I got a nice compliment from our Pastor, though. He said my singing is very inspiring, which made me happy. We also had a good anthem today.

Tonight I watched a classic sci-fi movie from 1958, called "It! The Terror From Beyond Space". There is actually an exclamation point in the title, and the Creature is said to come from "beyond space". Imagine that, SB.......... ;)

In the movie he comes from Mars, but I guess if you were a producer and you had to choose from being literal : "The Terror From Mars", or something more fantastical : "The Terror From Beyond Space",  you'd choose the latter. There might be a patron or two who'd want their money back because the Creature does not actually come from Beyond Space, but overall you'd probably be packing the house, and so the title was a wise choice I think, as was the exclamation point. (!)

I bought the dvd of this movie from Amazon because it was said to be the influence for the original "Alien" movie, which came out in 1979. And lo and behold, it is! In tonight's movie, a Monster stows away on board a space ship heading home from Mars, and in "Alien", a Monster stows away on a space ship leaving the moon of some planet or another - not Mars - but anyhow it is easy to see the parallels. "It" is classic 50s sci fi, with a really cool looking space ship, great 50s style special effects, a concerned cast of serious scientists (both men and women) and a Gigantic Scary Monster in a rubber suit!

You can't beat that combination, SB, and what's more, the movie wasn't even cheesy but was well done. If I had seen it when I was 7 or 8, it would have scared the bejeezus out of me. I can see why it had such an effect on Ridley Scott, that he would basically remake it 20 years later.

Now I need More Monster Movies! They've gotta be sci-fi this time around, however. No Frankensteins, Draculas or Wolfmen. No Mummies. I love all those guys, but I've seen every last film in the past couple years, so now it's gotta be 1950s sci-fi monsters, played by guys in rubber suits.

On the dvd I bought, there is a second feature called : "The Monster That Challenged The World".

Now how's that for a title? A Monster Who "Challenged The World".

That means he was willing to take on the entire world! So he must be one heck of a Monster!

I will watch that one either tomorrow night or Tuesday night, and I expect to have The Bejeezus scared out of me. Just as long as the Monster is wearing a rubber suit, that is.....

And that's all I know for tonight. I didn't see any posts today, but I imagine you are working on pics from your trip, or a project, or just enjoying your weekend.

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

Greek Festival + Clothes Shopping + Pop Songs Are Easy + Hoping To Hike Again

Happy Saturday Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice start to your weekend. You are probably working on editing all the photos you took as well. I went with my sister Vickie to the Greek Festival at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Northridge. The have the festival every Memorial Day weekend and I always go, which you probably know from my yearly posts, lol. This year was extra interesting because last Winter I was very engrossed in my book by Fr. Seraphim Rose, called "Genesis, Creation and Early Man", and so I knew a lot more about the Orthodox tenets than I have in the past. And, this time I knew all of the Saints they have in the mosaics, like St. Basil, St. Gregory the Theologian & St. John Chrysostom. I didn't volunteer anything to the lady giving us the tour, but it was cool to think to myself, "hey, I know that" when she referred to various points in church history.

The book by Fr. Seraphim remains one of the Ten Greatest Books I Have Ever Read, sheerly from an intellectual point of view.

We had fun also watching the dancers, including the little kids in Greek costume who performed traditional line dancing to the music of a live band. I love the Greek Festival, and if I have time I will go back Monday, the final day of the fest.

That was really all the news for the day, except I went out to the Northridge Mall to buy three new pair of pants and three new shirts at Penny's. I'm not much of a clothes horse, and I tend to wear stuff until it wears out, but I wanted some shirts especially besides just t-shirts, and so I got some nice colorful button up type shirts.

Tomorrow's song is a piece of cake, as are the ones scheduled for the next few weeks. Last week's song set a new standard for me personally, and because I thought I did pretty well singing it, I am hoping we will get a chance to sing other difficult pieces. The contemporary ones in the "pop" style are very easy, and I could even be a lead singer in a band, I think, were I so inclined.

I can belt it out these days, SB!  :)   (who knew?)

Well, that's all for tonight. Still gotta buy a new cam, might take another week or two. Don't wanna rush it.

Hoping to go for hikes in the future, even just ones that are close by. Job is very, very time consuming these days, though. Not easy.

But any hike will be a good hike, and to take some pics again will be great too.

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

Problem Solved + Red Gown + Looking For A Cam + Antonioni's "Le Amiche"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Okay........problem solved! I am of course writing from Chromebook #2 here at Pearl's. I feel like a bit of a dummy because I should have seen the problem right away, but.......well, I'll explain : you see, I never have to sign in to my blog. The window always opens up right where I left it, anytime I turn on either of the two Chromebook. And so, basically I haven't had to sign in to my Blogger account since I started using it in 2013. Maybe once or twice I've had to sign in, but I don't remember when it was. Anyway, because of that, when I had the problem today, I had forgotten entirely that I have two different sign-in emails for Blogger : one for my home computer and one for C-Book #2 here at Pearl's. That's the way it works with Google, which owns Blogger. There is a different doggone sign-in for everything! First I have to sign in to my computer (Google Chrome), and then there is a different sign in for Blogger. And, on top of that, they make you have two separate G-Mail accounts, one for each computer. So it's all very confusing! With Yahoo, I have one email sign-in, no matter where I go. But Google has all this different stuff going on, and while Chromebook is extremely user friendly, God Help You if you get disconnected from anything involving Google. Because then, you are gonna have to remember info from accounts you opened up years ago, that you didn't even know you had.

So that's what happened. For some reason, I was disconnected from my Blogger account here at Pearl's last night. I don't know how it happened; I did not sign out. Anyway, I kept trying to sign back in, but I was using a G-Mail address that does not access my blog. Only my G-Mail address from home can access it, and I didn't even know I had a G-Mail address at home, because I never use it, and I opened the account four years ago when I bought the Chromebook.

But it dawned on me that Google accounts are ultra complicated, unlike the sign-ins of almost anywhere else on the Internet, and then I finally figured out it must have to do with G-Mail, and it did.

When the problem was finally solved I was ready for a round of Primal Scream Therapy, lol.

If I was Google, I would make things about five times more complicated than they already are, and have different sign-ins for Every Single Thing You Can Possibly Think Of, or maybe even Every Single Thing In The Known Universe. Because in my opinion, we don't currently have enough passwords to remember. I, for one, would like more.  :)

At any rate, all is well with the Blog. Hooray!

You photo this morning was very beautiful, incredible color saturation and tones, hi-res detail without looking too "shiny". It looks like another painting, and the Red Gown once again places you inside your own dream. It's gotta be the bargain of the century at only seven bucks! Of course, you can find all kinds of cool stuff at Goodwill and thrift shops in general, and that gown was a major find.

This series of photographs has been absolutely fantastic, and this trip to Porcupine State Park will be one you will always remember.  :)

A special feeling on the trip led to special pics.........and it's always "in the feeling" that we are directed through our lives. Certain things pull us towards something.....and we follow. And we stay in that flow.

I went out to Best Buy to look at cameras today. Did I mention that it is gonna cost at least 100 bucks to fix my sensor on my Lumix? Can't remember if I mentioned it, but probably it will cost even more, like 150, so I figure I will just buy another cam, and keep my Magic Cam (the Lumix), and hope the dust spot falls off the sensor. At Best Buy, though, they didn't have much of an in-store selection. They of course have a Ton Of Cams at Amazon, at great prices, but I am wary of having electronics shipped in a box, because I am not home most of the day, and while I am not worried about theft, I am worried about the way I have seen delivery men toss boxes around. They might not know I have a cam in the box, and might toss it instead of setting it down.........you never know. So, even though the prices online are great, and the selection is great, I am gonna wait until I can find something I like that I can pick up for myself in a store. So it might be a while before I can post new pics. Or I can post pics from my Lumix, and try to hide the dust spot, haha.

Well anyhow, last night I watched an excellent movie : "Le Amiche" by Antonioni. He liked to have a lot of "oni"s in his name. One was not enough. But anyhow, the film had some of the best black and white photography I have ever seen. Antonioni was The Master of Mis-en-scene, i.e. placing objects in the frame, kind of like a window dresser. And he was also the master of composition. Every shot is like a still photograph, only with motion. "Le Amiche" could be seen for photography alone, but it is also a very good story, of several women, most of them close friends, whose lives are affected when one of the friends attempts suicide with an overdose of pills. She recovers, but the friends find out it was the result of a one-sided love affair. The setting is the world of high fashion, as an acquaintance of the friends owns a popular boutique. Antonioni was always interested in themes of love, ennui, and the space between the two, and what motivates people caught in the middle.

I was watching the film, which just came out on dvd from Criterion, and I was thinking, "hmmm, I recognise these people from somewhere". The actors and actresses, I thought I'd seen them in other films. What I didn't remember was that I'd seen the film before, when we did our Antonioni retrospective at CSUN in Spring 2012. That was right around the time I met you! But yeah, I looked it up on my list of Films I've Seen (cause I write everything down), and sure enough, I saw it back then.

But man it's a great film, and Antonioni is one of my top ten directors, and maybe the #1 photographer in film history, at least as far as mise-en-scene and composition. The way he places his actors in a frame and has them move around is.........sheer perfection.

Well, that's all I know for tonight. I saw your post about The Sylvee last night. I read her story, and it was pretty amazing, that she and her husband made Madison a tour stop for major artists. So it is great that you guys are getting a new venue in her honor. You will no doubt shoot many shows there!

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

SB! Super Important!

Happy Early Afternoon, Sweet Baby,

I wasn't able to write last night because for some crazy reason I cannot access my blog dashboard on Chromebook #2 at Pearl's. Whatever the problem is, it just started last night. Normally, on Chrome (and I assume on all computers), when I turn the computer on when I come back to Pearl's at night, all the pages I normally use come right back on where I left them. And I usually have a window opened for my blog, so when I turn the computer back on, at any time, the window for my blog, or my blog dashboard, is right as I left it.

But last night, when I got back to Pearl's, I turned the computer on, and the window for Blogger (which should have been my control "dashboard" right as I always leave it) only said "Welome". Then it said "you are not the author of any blogs yet. Start a new one"!

I was thinking, "oh brother........but maybe it's just a glitch". So I tried everything I could think of to access the dashboard, and nothing worked. Same deal this morning. I have tried the Google Help Forum (Blogger is part of Google), and they told me that it might be because I am signed in to the wrong account, but I only have one Google account. Or, I suppose I have two - one for this computer at home and one for Chromebook #2 at Pearl's. Anyway, I tried signing out and signing back in, I tried changing my password......nothing has worked. And the Google Help Forum has so far been unable to answer my questions or fix the problem. I was worried that I had been blocked for some reason, and so I am greatly relieved to see that I can still access the blog here at home. I was all ready to start a new blog at a new address, which I wasn't sure you would be able to find (which would be horrible). I suppose I could have posted it on FB, but anyway........I am glad I can access the blog here at home!

I will keep working to fix the problem at Pearl's, because I like to write from there. "Happy Late Night" is my best writing time!

I will write again this evening, however, from here at home, just in case I still cannot access at Pearl's.

Man, this computer stuff is confusing! You have to have so many different passwords and account settings, and all the language is very confusing. And the thing is - I didn't touch anything. I didn't change anything, didn't change any settings or passwords initially. All I did was turn the computer off at Pearl's when I went to bed Wednesday night, like I always do. And then, when I turned it back on yesterday, all of a sudden I can't access my blog dashboard. And it's weird, too, because I can access all my past blogs at the blogspot url, as if I were a reader of the blog. All old blogs are still there, right up to Wednesday night. But I can't access the dashboard to write a new one......

Anyway, I am repeating myself now, lol.

Thank goodness it still works from here at home!

I will do my best to fix the problem at Pearl's, and even though I am nearly computer illiterate, I am very good at trial-and-error and have fixed some very difficult computer glitches in the past, just by persistence.

So keep your fingers crossed, and I will write again later today, hopefully from Pearl's but if not, from here at home.

This morning's self-portrait was once again Incredible!

See you in a little while (huge sigh of relief that the blog still works here at home.....)

I Love You.   xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"The Harpist" + Red Gown Series + Dog Nails

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Well.....you already know what I'm gonna say : That your photo is once again incredible! You are really "in The Zone" now, Elizabeth, and these "Red Gown" photos have taken your already formidable self-portrait skills to new heights. Today's photo, I was looking at it, thinking "this makes me think of something", and it was because I was seeing the overall shape of the driftwood, and then it hit me : It almost looks like you could be sitting down to play an ancient mysterious instrument, like a harp! Just imagine some strings set vertically in that hole in the middle of the driftwood, just below the long branch.......you could picture a carved dragon's head on the top of the piece directly in front of you, and the place where you are sitting would be a bench. Wow!

Just a great, great photograph, and like your music - it gives a feeling. That is what is most important.

The Red Gown photos will go out into the Universe, I believe.  :)

I hope you had another great day at the park, and there is no doubt that you did. :)

I also saw a post via Dreamhouse, who look like they have signed with an agency of some sort, so that is also good for you as well.

Today I took my cam to Best Buy, but they told me it would cost around 150 to have the sensor cleaned, so.........forget that, lol. I will try Hooper Camera in the next couple days. I am willing to pay 75, or maybe 100 bucks tops, just cause I love my cam so much, but I've gotta draw the line somewhere because it only cost me 275. Fingers are crossed for an affordable repair.

I bought some doggie nail clippers to try and trim the Doberman's nails. He starts walking funny if his nails get too long : wobbles more than usual. I wasn't sure he'd let me clip them. The groomer usually does it, but it's getting harder to take him to the groomer because of his age, so I thought I'd try it myself, and lo and behold he did let me do it. And it wasn't too hard. You just have to be careful not to clip the blood vessel that dogs have inside their nails. But you can see where it is. I only did a few nails, just enough to help him walk easier, and I will do more tomorrow.

Trying to keep my buddy in good shape as he nears 17 and 1/2. :)

That was all the news for today. Reading my RFK book. Listened to "King Animal" by Soundgarden and worked on my latest drawing. Watched an episode of "Rawhide".

Have another great day tomorrow at the park!

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

Your Dream + "Outer Limits"

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

What an incredible shot this morning! It looks like a painting. You did a great job of sectioning the hills, lake and clouds. The muted colors give it a pastel look........and then there is You.

It looks like you are in a dream. 

It's the red ball gown that gives it that effect - quite striking, I must say - and it makes the photo look like a dream you are having. :)

I can see what you mean about people leaving you alone, lol. Anybody looking on would wonder, "hmmm......woman in red ball gown.....I could've sworn I was in Porcupine State Park on a camping trip, but maybe I'm dreaming..........no, wait: she's real". :)

I have gotta hand it to you, SB; you always Go For It in the name of art, and in doing so this time you just got a major league shot, and a self portrait that you will one day look back on and say to yourself, "Wow.......that's me".

Today being Tuesday, there was no hike, nor did I get my camera into the shop yet for cleaning (hopefully tomorrow or Thursday), but I did give The Kobester a bath this afternoon and this evening I watched a really weird "Outer Limits" episode called "Wolf-359", in which a scientist has created a miniature version of a planet from the star system of the title, which apparently is real. There really is a Wolf 359 star. Anyhow, a ghostly creature (that mysteriously looks like a pair of hands covered in a gauzy sheet) evolves in the ecosystem the experiment has generated, and this ghost ultimately escapes it's laboratory environment to torment the scientist and his partner with feelings of doom. It's a very heavy, psychological episode, just like all the other episodes of "Outer Limits"!

Which is one reason I love the show so much. The other reason is because it's weird. And in B&W.

How can you lose?  :)

I hope you are having a blast at the park, and I'll bet you are really connecting with the vibes there.

It shows in your photo!

That's all for tonight, SB. I Love You and will see you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Have A Great Camping Trip + Aliso (finally) + "A Terrible Mistake" + "Fences"

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

I hope you had a great first day at your campsite! And if you are awake now (yeah, I know it's super late) then I'll bet you can see a million stars. I am happy you got to go, and you will be inspired by your surroundings and have great melodies come to you while you're there. And you will take tons of great photos, naturally.  :)

I finally got outside - hooray! Nothin' fancy, just a regular old Aliso Canyon hike, but these days that is great, and it just felt great because I love that place, and I hadn't been on any kind of hike in a couple weeks or so. Also, it was 95 degrees today, so you know I was loving the heat, too.

I finally finished my book, "A Terrible Mistake" about the death of a man named Frank Olson, who worked at a place called Camp Detrick in Maryland in the early 1950s. He worked in creating biological warfare agents (germ warfare). The military was also very interested in using drugs to destabilise enemy forces, and right around that time LSD was discovered by Albert Hoffmann in Switzerland, and the CIA was all over it. The CIA is evil to the core, of course, and one day they will go down the tubes, but back then, they did experimentation of LSD on people without their knowledge. And in France, there was a horrible incident in the town of Pont St. Esprit in which they used aerosol spraying from a light plane to spray an LSD laced mist on the villagers. It is documented and can be Googled. Many people went crazy and some died. Frank Olson had helped design the aerosol device, which he assumed was reserved for warfare, and he was horrified that it was tested on civilians. So in the ensuing years, he began to talk about it to colleagues because it bothered him so much. Because of this, he was finally thrown out a 13th story window by some CIA hired thugs. The CIA told his family he had committed suicide, and there the story laid, for almost 50 years.

But because of this researcher, the author Hank Albarelli, the case was finally reopened at the turn of the millenium. No verdict of murder was ever reached, but in the book he proves his case beyond a shadow of a doubt. The book is 750 pages, and is exhaustive in it's detailing of the deeds of the CIA in the notorious MKULTRA program.

Grim stuff, I know, but of course you know why I have interest in such a subject. And all Americans should, really.

Tonight I watched a really great movie called "Fences" (2016), directed by and starring Denzel Washington, in one of the great performances of recent years. It's the story of a black man in the late 1950s who had been a star baseball player in the Negro Leagues but was now reduced to driving a garbage truck. He is stoic but bitter about his life experience and takes it out on his family, though verbally and not through physical violence. But he is very intimidating, especially to his youngest son.

It's a great American story with a magnificent script by playwright August Wilson, and it was a play before being made into a film. On it's face it's about the struggle of colored people, as they were called then, in the changing social climate of the 50s, just before the civil rights movement happened. But even more than that, the story contains everything that is relevant about The American Experience as well. It's a movie that speaks to everyone, no matter one's life experience. The performances are across-the-board stellar, especially Washington, Viola Davis and Mykelti Williamson as Denzel's brain damaged brother.

For me, it is one of the three great films from last year, along with "Hacksaw Ridge" and "Silence".

Well, that's all for tonight. Have an awesome time on the peninsula! Post pics when you get a chance.

P.S. I saw your post about Taco Bell. It definitely does fill the void, imo. Especially when you are pounding packets of their hot sauce straight into your mouth.......pure bliss. :)

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

Happy Sunday + Good Singin' + Chris Cornell

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice Sunday. We had good singin' in church, and we nailed our song, though I missed a note or two near the end. All in all however, it was a success. I hope we get to do more songs like this one, that are vocally challenging.

I saw a bunch of posts today, a few that were music related (including the paint job on Sarah's guitar which looks really cool, almost like PopArt from the 1960s). I saw, and read, the Chris Cornell post too. That was an excellent article, and the guy nailed it about Chris, that he was - or seemed - above it all, above trouble. He seemed both super humble and a big time rock star all in one. The last thing in the world he seemed was depressed, although a look back at his lyrics gives a very clear picture. So many references, in practically every song he ever wrote.

The guy who wrote the article suggested that we have all been depressed, to some degree, and I imagine that is true. It is part of the human condition. I even wrote a blog entitled "Depression Blog" several nights ago, and right after I posted it I saw the news that Chris had died, though I didn't know right then that he had killed himself.

But yeah, I have suffered from depression in my life, though thankfully not for prolonged periods, and also in my case I do not believe it was ever "clinical" i.e. any kind of chemical imbalance. My Dad had clinical depression for a while, and I could see how hard it was on him, though again he managed to live a full life until 88 years of age.

But these horrible drugs they prescribe - the benzodiazipines - are what take people over the edge. I have lost two friends that way, including my best friend Dave S., who died in 2008. He was taking Wellbutrin. Another friend, Steve J. took Klonopin and killed himself in 1995.

Psychotropic drugs suck, they are worse than street drugs. When my Dad was being treated by the VA for alcoholism in the 80s, they had him so doped up on meds that he would lose his balance and fall. Repeatedly. He fell and hit his head on the ground numerous times. Good thing he was a Tough SOB (toughest I ever knew), and Dad was the opposite of suicidal. But he suffered from depression and they doped him up with these meds called "anti-depressants". All I could see was that they made him more depressed, as well as dizzy, sleepy and off-balance. I could tell all of this as a 17 year old in 1977, long before the publicity on these things came to the fore.

So the writer of the Chris Cornell article nailed it, but he left out the part about the meds. Because to make a snap decision like that - play a concert and then Boom!, come of stage and kill yourself, that's the drugs making that happen.

Ordinary depression, at least the physical component, can often have to do with simple blood sugar issues. And of course a mindset that has been conditioned by growing up in a dysfunctional home. But when you add the benzo drugs into the mix, it's like letting the Devil into your head. I have never taken any such pills, nor any prescription drugs, but from what the evidence shows, benzos can lead to "suicidal ideation".

I will say flat out that I believe it lets demons into a person's head, much like a schizophrenic person hearing voices.

And I think that's what happened to Chris Cornell, a guy who had suffered depression but had seemed to rise above it or at least live with it. I agree with his family that those drugs caused him to make a snap decision.

I am tired tonight, cause of getting up early for church, but maybe tomorrow night I'll write a little bit more about it, and how I discovered for myself that getting your endocrine system into balance really can help to eliminate a lot of episodic depression. At least it did for me. I'm not perfect, but I don't suffer the moodiness I had in my 20s when I was smoking pot on a daily basis and drinking a lot.

Marijuana is another drug I do not think is good, in the big picture. And I don't think it's a great idea to legalise it and promote it for overall use, as is being done now. But that's another story.

Well anyhow......Chris Cornell. Man, could that guy ever write a song. He just plain "had it in him", because I don't believe he had a lot of musical training. But he taught himself, and he could play many instruments too (like someone I know). And he knew how to use dissonant chords, 6ths, 7ths, and weird keys like G to D#, that resulted in a totally original song like "Black Hole Sun".

Who ever sounded like that?

Nobody.

So he channeled what he was feeling, boy did he ever, and he channeled only that. Only his own influence got through, which is why his music is so original.

Anyway, I hope you had a great weekend.

I will see you in the morning.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Saturday + Cam Needs Cleaning + Legato Singing In The Morn

Happy Saturday Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day, and a good show tonight, if indeed you had a show. I thought you did because of yesterday's post. If you did, I am sure you got some great shots.  :)

Not much to report from me, though I hope to get outdoors next week. I have to take my camera into the shop to have the sensor cleaned, unfortunately. When I was taking my last posted shot, of the b&w sky with the sun rays behind the clouds, I noticed a blurry black spot on the screen. It kept appearing in all my shots that evening, and I didn't know what it was. I figured it was electronic damage of some kind, but after Googling I see it is merely some dust or dirt on the sensor. Which is probably just as bad, because they charge a lot to take apart your cam and clean it. I've heard between 50 and 100 bucks. Also, you have to send your cam out and trust it in the hands of strangers, which I am not thrilled about.

My camera is only a Panasonic point-and-shoot, but it's handy for hikes and climbing, and I've gotten a lot of great shots with it over the years. I keep saying I am gonna get me an SLR (which was all I ever used in the film days) and maybe this year I will get one, but I love my little Panasonic........so I guess I will pay to get it cleaned. I have no other choice if I wanna keep using it. In the photo I posted, I managed to hide the black smudge in a dark part of the clouds. But you can find it if you look closely, haha. I will probably take the cam to Best Buy (where I bought it) or Hooper Camera (the local pro shop) sometime next week. In the meantime, I will shoot some film with my Pentax ME Super, my main cam from the 90s.

But first, I've gotta get back outside. Easier said than done these days, but I will do it.

Tomorrow in church, we will be singing a song that is one of the most challenging yet, in terms of legato singing. It's called "My Song In The Night", and there are Youtube videos of it being sung, but all by medium to large choirs. To do it smoothly in the legato style with a ten member choir will be a bit of a trick, but I am ready. I've been practicing all week in the car!  :)

I will drink two or three cups of water before leaving for church tomorrow morning. I find it helps loosen the throat up.

Well, that's all for tonight. They showed "Eraserhead" on TCM tonight! I could hardly believe it was on TV, but I watched part of it with Pearl, lol. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but besides being mega-weird it has some of the greatest b&w imagery ever put on film, and an ultimate capturing of grey scale.......

See you tomorrow. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

A Great Review (Congratulations!)

Hi Elizabeth,

Well, that is fantastic news about the review of "Notepainting" in Isthmus. Your first review! (at least I think it is). But yeah, that is beyond awesome. :) The writer used the word "affecting" to describe your music, and that's exactly what I've been saying all along, that it has an emotional effect. It creates a feeling, as I was saying yesterday. And that's even slightly different than saying it "has feeling", which it does as well.........but because it is so personal to you, it goes a step further and creates a feeling in the listener too.

I will be super looking forward to your upcoming recordings of piano/viola duets and your singer/songwriter music. You have the ability to "get to the core" of a song, as just demonstrated by your cover of "Dream", so make sure you go all the way with your own songs. If this were the "old days" of the record industry, and you were working in a studio with a producer, he would drill you (or encourage you, lol, depending on the producer) to produce your best rendition of every song. Since you are your own producer, which is often the case these days, it is your job to bring out of yourself what you know you are capable of. You already know that, but I say it anyway.  :)  Bring out that connection in all of your music. (that's something our choir director is always stressing, lol).

You seem to be able to pick up any musical instrument and play it (cause not just anyone could play a viola so quickly, even just playing single notes, most people would have some "bow screech"), which means you are genuinely "musical". One of my very favorite artists is a guy named Mike Oldfield, who became famous in 1973 for an album called "Tubular Bells" on which he played all the instruments.

I am also loving an album I just got in the mail, called "The Geese And The Ghost" (1977) by a guy named Anthony Phillips who was one of the founders of Genesis but left before they became famous. Nevertheless, he has continued to put out beautiful, pastoral music for 40 years now, mostly featuring 12 string guitar, and with such an emphasis on connection and melody. He also plays a variety of instruments, and has ventured into classical music.

I also saw a couple of music related posts today : one from a band playing tomorrow night (I think), so maybe you are gonna be shooting that show? And the other post was from Stitched Up Heart, so I know you'll be with them when they come to town, and that is awesome.  :)

Well, anyway, I am glad you posted, and congrats on the Isthmus review. There will be more to come as you go along, mark my words. Just as long as you keep doing what you do, your destiny will unfold. You don't have to do anything else other than What You Do.

I trust all is well, then. It's been a little rough this week, and Chris Cornell's death hit hard for so many people because he was so beloved, and it was such a shock........

I know you are busy these days, but post when you can, and when you do post, I will respond. :)

I am with you all the way, of course.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Just Saying Hi (and trying again now)

Hi Elizabeth,

I am writing this in the afternoon, just to see how you are feeling. If you want, you can let me know. I am always checking FB, hoping to see a post from you.  :)

If I said anything that was hurtful to you, I am sorry. I sure didn't mean to.

I am thinking about you, and I will be around most of the afternoon and evening, as always.

I will write more tonight too, at the usual time, but I hope to hear from you too, if you want to.  :)

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)


12:56am : I am back. I was hoping to hear from you. Won't you please post something, just so I know what's going on? It's been a rough day, there's just always so much bad stuff going on, and Chris Cornell's death has hit everybody pretty hard. Please, Elizabeth, I don't know what I said that could have caused such a severe reaction for you, and as I said this afternoon, I am sorry if I said anything hurtful. I honestly did not mean to be.

We all need something good to happen. There is enough bad stuff, and tragic stuff.

Just by communicating, in any small way, we are doing something positive, something good.

I hope you are still with me, but I am worried because this has been going on for several days now.

All I am trying to do is understand the situation. Won't you please help me to do so?

I Guess You Are Upset But I Am Not Sure Why

Hi Elizabeth,

I saw your post a few minutes ago, the one that said "the world was always awful : a history lesson for people who romanticize the past". It was the only post I saw all day from you, and it isn't the kind of post you usually like, so I guess you are pretty upset. I am not sure exactly what the words of that post refer to - what you intend them to mean. My first guess was that you thought the song I posted tonight was "awful", and that by posting it I am trying to "romanticize the past". I made that guess because your post appeared just a little while after I posted the song. I like old music - actually I like all kinds of music as you know - and I like to romanticize the past, present and future as well. I'm pretty sure you are aware of that too.  :)  It's just my nature; I couldn't be any other way if I tried.

I saw that the post came from some sort of nihilistic FB page, and while I am very aware of world history - one of my major subjects of study over my lifetime - I am not and will never be a nihilist.

A lot of stuff does indeed suck, and that has always been the case in the world, but there has always been more - much, much more - that was, and is, beautiful about the world, and life.

I have made the comparison in the past that if the bad stuff (call it evil or whatever you wish) outweighed the good, the world would have come to an end a long time ago. But it hasn't.

I know you know this, and you are not a nilhilist either. You are more the opposite, like me.

Anyway, I know you didn't pick that post just because it came from that particular FB page. You chose it for it's words, I am guessing, and whether you meant it in reference to tonight's old fashioned song or just toward me in general (that I romanticize the past), it is clear that you meant it to show you are upset with me.

If you are, I hope you will tell me why. I was not being critical of you in my blog the other night. I was only trying to tell you why I was feeling down, and I was trying to be honest. To boil it down, I was basically saying the same thing I said a few years ago, i.e. that while I don't mind communicating in this way, I can feel depressed about it when I see that you have direct contact with other guys.

I have been writing to you for five years. That is a long time, and I don't think anybody but me would have been willing to communicate in this way for this long a time. But I do it because I do love you, I do care about you, and because - in the unique psychic way this communication has worked - I have thought you felt the same way about me. I always keep in mind the age difference, because I don't want to assume anything, or come across as a "creepy old guy" (which I am not).

I have always enjoyed writing, but as I tried to explain, it sometimes gets a little difficult, just because there is no direct contact.

All I was trying to say on Sunday was that I got depressed about the situation because several factors added up - work stress, etc. - and Victor's post was the tipping point. That was all.

I don't care about Victor. Remember when I got upset about your friend Johan (John) a few years ago? And the other guy, from France?

But then I got over it.

I don't care about these guys; I am too old for that stuff.

All I care about is whatever the heck we are trying to do here, with our communication. And once in a while, I feel like I am in second place behind one of these guys.

I will say one thing, because I think it is important from a musical standpoint. If I were you, I would not get into a bunch of collaborations, with Victor or whomever. I hope it doesn't piss you off that I say that, but I say it because you have something unique, and it is very likely that the others may not.

You are able to capture a feeling with your music. Do you know how rare that is?

I do. 

I may not know a lot, but if there is one thing I do know, it's music. On that subject I have a phD.

You should focus on your own music. Just sayin'. Get pissed at me if you want to.

At any rate, if you are mad at me for anything I wrote on Sunday (and I can't understand why because I tried to explain myself) then please re-think it.

I wasn't mad at you.

I was not - and am not - gonna stop writing, or supporting you, or caring about you.

That is not ever going to happen.

All I was wondering was : where do I stand, in the communication scheme of things? And I felt that was a reasonable question after all this time.

And I posed the question : "what do you think"? (meaning You).

That was all.

I got depressed because I would like more communication with you, not less. And the Victor post kinda made me feel down, because it was like "who's he"? (I know he is your friend).

Well anyway, I am trying and I will keep trying.

It isn't easy right now. I am caring for a 93 year old dementia patient almost 24/7.

Anyhow, I am here, and I am thinking about you.

You are #1 with me. Even though we don't have direct communication, and even though I know you have a lot of people in your life and know me only from the computer, I hope you feel the same way.

Post if you can, and if you want to.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Cheeseheads

Hi Elizabeth,

I saw your post just now, via Drewsif. What's the deal with these guys and their grilled cheese? :) It's gotta be a Wisconsin thing, but then I saw a post the other day about Marilyn Manson, saying that his favorite food is a grilled cheese sandwich. He was from Ohio and lives in L.A. now. But wait a minute - we do cheese too, here in California (as noted several times), so maybe he became a convert after relocating.

Or maybe it's because everybody loves grilled cheese (and cheese in general).  :)

But those guys in your state swear by it. That's one reason why you guys are #1 in cheese and we are second......

Anyway, I am glad you posted. Post more if you want to.

I am not upset about anything, in case you were wondering. In my blog, I was just trying to "communicate about communication", and was wondering what your take on the issue is, and the other stuff I mentioned.

I forgot to mention in my blog that your portrait of your Mom on Sunday was very nice. I didn't hit the "like" button cause I figured it wasn't my place to do so, but for the record I think your Mom is cool, and a great Mom for supporting you in every way. Also, I saw your post that day about celebrating Mother's Day "in spirit", and it made me think of my Mom, who was awesome as well. Maybe you meant it that way, and if so, thanks. I miss my Mom being here in person, but it's kind of neat because she is with me always.

Well anyway, post more tomorrow if you want.

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Depression Blog (sorry about that)

Hi Elizabeth,

Sorry I didn't write for a couple days, it's just that it's getting harder to do so because a lot of times I have nothing to respond to, and right now I don't have a lot of exciting things going on in my life, it's just work almost all the time, so.......I hate to say it, but sometimes I wonder if I should keep writing this blog.

Now don't get me wrong, because I think you are awesome and you know how I feel about you, but sometimes I just feel like I am putting messages in a bottle and throwing them into the ocean, if you know what I mean. It's interesting to think that we have had this form of communication for almost five years now, and a lot of that time it has been really good. If you go back and look at older blogs you'll see what I mean. But because we do not have direct communication, and because I know you are busy with a lot of other things these days, sometimes I wonder if my writing to you is still important to you. I don't just mean something "nice to read" or that it's nice to hear from me, but that this is a connection that is important in your life. I enjoy writing to you - after all, I've written around 1500 blogs (my goodness!) - so from that standpoint there is no problem. But writing involves thought, and feeling. It is communication, and when it begins to feel like messages put in a bottle and tossing them in the ocean and wondering if anyone has read them and if they've had an effect, then it gets harder to keep writing them. When you combine it with my current work situation, and that I don't have much interesting to write about on my end, then you see why whole weekends go by, or several days in a row when I don't write. But with this unusual form of communication, it can fall apart when those gaps become a regular thing.

I'll be honest with you, this time there was something that kinda set it off, and just made me wonder if I should keep writing. Looking back, it seems ridiculous and it probably is, but at the time I just thought "why am I doing this"? and it made me a little depressed. This was on Friday, just a couple days ago. You had posted your amazing cover of "Dream", and everything was going along as it has been, which is pretty good, but there have still been these gaps where I have had nothing to respond to and haven't written, and they had gotten more frequent this year. So on Friday, I saw a post by your friend Victor, the European guy, and he said he'd like to write music with you, and then you indicated that you could do it when you visited him in Iceland.

Okay, that sounds like no big deal, right? It even sounds like fun, and it should be. I know he is your friend, and I know you have posted to him before because I've seen him on your FB, off and on, for years. And I know you are already going to Iceland, and I am guessing he has offered to show you around. But here is the way it affected me : it just made me feel, again, like "why am I doing this"? And that's because I have been writing to you for five years, and we have not had any direct communication in all that time, and yet here is your friend all the way over in Iceland who you do seem to have communication with, and I just thought, "man.......I've been writing and writing and writing for five years, but I still feel like just A Guy On Facebook". And yet here is another Guy On Facebook, Victor, and he has a more direct connection to you than I do.

Sounds ridiculous, I know, because it probably came up only because you are visiting Iceland in the first place, but combined with what I already mentioned - that often I wonder if my writing to you is still something important, and that often I find it hard to write because I have nothing to respond to - well.....it just made me feel depressed.  :(

There are other factors involved, just stuff in my life. Right now I don't have a lot of outlets because my job has become a lot more involved, as I've mentioned before. I used to have my hikes and short road trips out to Simi Valley and Santa Clarita, but it's gotten hard to do those anymore because of the time factor. So I'm just working most of the time - and believe me I am glad and grateful to have the job - but if you read about some of the psychological stresses on caregivers, you will understand what I am talking about. Also, I am in my late 50s now, and in just three years I will be 60. That's not ancient, and I am trying to stay in shape and maintain some semblance of youth, lol, or at least middle age. But the thing is that I have been alone for a long time, and when you get older your sense of time speeds up. It makes the years feel like they are going by faster, and I sometimes worry that I am gonna be alone at 60, or 65, 70........

It's not something I dwell on, but it is a little scary to think about, because I don't have anybody. I don't have kids. I am all by myself, and I do not want to wind up at, say 75, living all by myself in a senior's apartment. And, though I have my several male friends, I just don't wanna be "one of the boys" any more. It's not easy for me, because I am a shy person, and that has affected me my whole life. It's not easy for me to meet people, but even if it were, I don't generally form superficial friendships. I only wanna be around people who "get it". And really, to tell you the truth, I can count the people I've known who "get it" (i.e. who understand life in a way that cannot be described) on one hand. Most of my friends do not fit into that category, even though they are good guys.

But you are one of those people. You "get it".

Now, there are several things I know. I know that you never asked me to write to you, that these blogs began, on Myspace in 2013, in an unsolicited (although symbolically acknowledged) way. I also know that we have a significant age difference, and that most young people probably would like to converse and be with people their own age. That's the way I was when I was in my 20s, and it's only natural. I also know that we live in two different states. So I am not expecting you to communicate with me in the way you would with your own friends who live close by and whom you know "in real life" (though I suppose this is real life, too).

As far as communication goes, I am not expecting anything at all from you, precisely because it was begun by me writing to you, and because it was unsolicited. But because you seemed to like me to write, and because we seem to have a connection in that way, I have done so - happily - for five years. Generally, I am a pretty happy guy, as you know, and things don't get me down. But recently it's just been getting a bit harder because of "caregiver stress" and that I am still alone at 57. And I don't have the outlets I had, with my hikes and such. Or not as much anyway.

Sorry about the bitching and moaning, lol. I guess the whole thing can be summed up in a sentence or two, or three (or four or five, etc, haha). I guess the first sentence is what I've said in the past, when these same issues have come up : I like writing to you, so there is no problem there. I just like writing anyway, putting my thoughts and feelings down. I've always hoped for more of a conversation, though, and that has not really been in the cards.

Another thing I'd say, or ask, is how important to you is my writing to you? I don't mean to put you on the spot, and you certainly don't have to humor me. If it's important, and if it means something besides just "oh, nice to hear from Adam today, he's a nice guy" (meaning casual interest), then by all means I will keep writing, though it's not easy when I have nothing to respond to.

And I guess the final thing I would ask is, do you see this form of communication progressing in the future? Again, not to put you on the spot. This form - me writing and you responding in the way you respond - has worked pretty well for many years. Would you like it to stay this way? If so, that is okay.

I want it - the communication - to be in whatever way you want. If my writing to you is something you continue to want in your life. If it is, I will try to keep doing it. If not, I understand as I've said before. The only problem is that when these gaps happen, or when I feel like Just A Guy On FB, it gets harder to maintain the spirit of the thing.

Sometimes I get depressed about stuff, and it's no fun.

I always rebound pretty quickly, though.

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

Happy Thursday + "Love Streams" + Thoughts On John Cassavetes

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a good day. Not much to report from me - basic Hair Salon Thursday - but I did go to the movie tonight and we saw the final Cassavetes film, called "Love Streams" (1984), the story of a reckless, womanising writer with no attachments in his life, and indeed he doesn't want any. He even ditches his 8 year old son (from a past marriage whom he doesn't even know) during a trip to Las Vegas. He has some money, and a bit of fame and lots of one night stands, but really he has nothing. All of that changes when a woman comes into his life who he has not seen in a long time. It is his sister who is a bit on the nutty side (of course played by Gena Rowlands). She is recently divorced and looking for something meaningful in her life on the advice of her shrink.

The movie plays out in typical Cassavetes fashion for the first 2/3rds, lots of dialogue, dysfunctional behavior, examination of motivation (why do people do the things they do) and so forth. But then when the sister moves in to his house, things get weird, almost like a David Lynch movie. Well okay : not that weird, but she does something that is very unusual. Thinking that her brother needs something in his life besides alcohol and a parade of women, she decides he needs a pet, or maybe two.

But because she's a bit mental, she visits a local animal rescue facility and brings home two miniature horses, a goat, several chickens and baby ducks, and a gigantic dog. He is not appreciative of this (big surprise, eh?), which causes her to suffer a nervous breakdown (typical Cassavetes) because she was only trying to bring him something he could love - pets - and he has rejected them.

The weirdness progresses from there, but it is all good natured. All of his movies were about people looking for love, and being hindered by the vagaries and frailties of human psychology. Alcohol abuse runs rampant through every Cassavetes movie, and he himself died of cirrhosis of the liver at 59, only five years after "Love Streams" was released. In the film he looks gaunt and somewhat drawn, and was no doubt already ill.

The movie was very long - 2hrs 24mins - and as always you have to have patience to sit through it. Grimsley absolutely hated it and went on a tirade as we walked back to our cars. But I really enjoyed it, and have come to appreciate John Cassavetes as a truly original director who made movies like no other. We have now completed the retrospective, and I will miss the anything-goes approach of his films and their exploration of the myriad emotions, both hidden and expressed, that his characters (and all people) experience in everyday life. He wanted to show what is internalised (which in his estimation was what people are really feeling) and what is expressed in the company of other people on a daily basis (which he felt was the "mask" that everyone puts on for the world to see).

This is perhaps true to an extent : we are all "polite" in the company of other people (generally speaking), more candid perhaps with close friends, and our deepest feelings we may internalise, and often without realising it because those feelings pass by subconsciously or in our ongoing daily stream-of-consciousness. For most of us this is no big deal or at least tolerable, or we learn to cope with it. In Cassavetes' movies, the characters suffer breakdowns, they laugh, cry and fight. They drink and smoke and talk. The camera closes in, and goes in and out of focus.....I think he thought that everybody is a little kooky, and that it is a good thing because it makes us who we are. For him, the kookiness was the avenue of exploration, although we know that the human personality and psyche is made up of much more than it's frailties, idiosyncracies or suppressed emotions. As per Freud, we have an Ego, Superego and Id for a reason; to act as a system of filters precisely to bring out our best selves, to separate our true feelings in our heart of hearts from the "stream" that is neverending in our minds. Cassavetes saw this as "wearing a mask"; I see it as a filter.

But anyhow......   :)  

His films are not easy to sit through, as I have noted several times, but having seen them all now, I am glad I did sit and watch, and pay attention, because for me they have been greatly rewarding. John Cassavetes really put his heart and soul into his work and wore his heart on his sleeve, and left it out there for the world to see. Love him or hate him, his films will always be remembered and talked about. ////

As an added bonus, Professor Tim was able to get the Assistant Director from "Love Streams" to introduce the film for us, and to tell what it was like working with Cassavetes. He was a very nice man, well spoken and interesting, so that was great too.

I didn't see any posts today, but I hope you are getting good feedback on "Dream", and even beyond the FB comments. Your version is gonna get out into the world.......

I hope all other projects are going well too.

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

The Verdict Is In, And It's Unanimous + Wow!

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Well, Elizabeth........the verdict is in, and it's unanimous : "Beautiful"! That is the word that appears again and again in the comments for your video, and I would add "Exceptionally". First I must say "Wow"! for the official and long standing reason, and then I must also add the baseball citation of "Goodbye Mr. Spalding", which I have also used before but which is especially applicable in this case. If you Google that phrase you'll see that it refers to the hitting of a Home Run.

That song is very beautiful, and it is your voice which takes it over the top. You have a quality in your voice that I have referred to as "pure", i.e. clean, pure soprano. But you also have an emotional component, especially in the high register, that is very affecting. You straight up have a beautiful singing voice, and that is said in considering the whole thing : vocal tone, range, ability to emote, phrasing, and that.....quality.

I'll tell you something, and it's obvious anyway : if Pricilla Ahn heard your version, she would also be saying that it is beautiful, I guarantee you. :)

The viola counterpoint is a nice compliment to your vocal, like a steady backdrop.

Well, SB, you sure learned to play that instrument quickly! I know it was not a complex part, but still : just learning how to bow is hard enough. And to hit the stops on a much smaller and fretless board. Not easy! How did you do it in so short a time?

I will tell you how : because you have exceptional musical talent, that's how.

I am not joking you, and you already know that, but man-oh-man has it ever developed in the last few years.

You can take it as far as you want to, Elizabeth.......you are that good.

One question : do you regularly rehearse your voice? I know you had some time in choir and vocal coaching, but do you regularly "exercise" your voice these days? I am guessing yes. I know that for me, and I have only been singing weekly for 2 1/2 years, that if I don't practice then I will have problems, not so much with range anymore but with suppleness. That's why I am always singing in the car, lol.

Well, anyhow, so............yeah.  :)

You are really feeling the song, and that translates directly to the listener, so we can feel it too.

I had not heard of Pricilla Ahn, but I see she is pretty popular and has played with some very big names. The lyrics of the song are beautiful as well, and I can see what they mean to you.  :)

That's all I really know for the day. I mean, double and triple Wow.........and everyone agrees!

I will see you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Voila :Viola! + Overturned Car (CSUN Traffic Tirade) + "Nocturnal Animals"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I liked your photo this morning, your selfie w/ viola, and I am looking forward to your cover song. Don't tell what it is, let it be a surprise, but if you wanna give a hint go ahead, lol. Maybe an obscure hint, hard to figure out.  :) I am betting you will play the viola parts just fine. The hard part has got to be the bowing, right? But you will get it down. Just record the rest of the song and then focus on the viola parts. That is a beautiful instrument you have.  :)

I had a Basic Tuesday (Golden Agers), except......Grim texted me and wanted to come over for an afternoon CSUN walk. He was gonna meet me at 3pm. I got back from Pearl's a few minutes before that, so I went upstairs to my apartment, and when I came back down ten minutes later to meet Grim, there was a small crowd gathered in front of the building that had not been there when I got home. I noticed police cars, and a fire engine, and then I saw something that looked absurd on our little side street. There was an overturned car lying there in the middle of the street with it's windows broken and all it's air bags deployed.

How the heck did a car overturn on our little street, I wondered. I heard other people asking the same question. Then Grim walked up and asked the same thing. Grim being Grim - talkative and inquisitive - he sought out the driver, who was unhurt (no one was hurt, thank goodness), and the driver - a young CSUN student - gave Grim a total baloney story of going "about 30 mph, driving slightly in the middle of the road, and then swerving to avoid an oncoming car. Then the guy hit two cars that were parked at the curb, which he says caused him to overturn. He must have told the cops the same story, and because there were no eyewitnesses, no one could dispute him. But there is no way that could have happened. I live there, I drive it several times a day, and if you were going only 30 and happened to swerve into cars parked at the curb, you would hit them and come to a stop. The probable truth is that the guy was going about 50, and accellerating, and glanced down at his phone, because all these CSUN drivers do (it is of course an epidemic). In that split second, with his eyes off the road he drifted to the right, then saw he was gonna hit a parked car, and so jerked the wheel hard to the left, which - combined with his speed and the rebound from the parked car - caused him to overturn.

I should be an insurance investigator, and the guy is gonna get a surprise when the investigators do turn up a surveillance camera that has footage of his accident. Long story short : I am glad the guy was okay, but I hope they take his licence away because I am sick of the way these people drive, with the phone in one hand. Can't people take their eyes off their phones for even a minute? Well anyway, end of tirade. I love my hometown of Northridge, and I have lived next to CSUN (at a few locations) since 1968. But I hate what has become of the traffic situation, and it's almost enough to make me wanna move out to the desert or somewhere. I mean, I won't, but I feel like I want to, because it's not just the endless river of cars, which is bad enough, but it's the fact that a high percentage of the drivers are staring at their phones. This is again proved out by the amount of cars you see with their emergency flashers on, pulled over haphazardly anywhere they please. Emergency flashers used to signify a real emergency, but now they are used whenever CSUN students get a text, or whenever they feel a need to run up to a pal's apartment for a few minutes, while leaving their car in the middle of the street.

It's an Era Of Distraction. Anyway, end of tirade. I love my town but I hate what the university has done to it by admitting 42,000 students - way too many for our area - and offering them minimal parking with no traffic routing through the university itself. CSUN has ruined the traffic situation in Northridge.

Well, anyhow......

Tonight's movie was "Nocturnal Animals", an artful and weird movie about......hmmmm, I suppose you could say it was about the nature of relationships, and how they collide with ambition. I'm not sure. Anyhow, it's really two movies in one. When it began, I thought I was gonna have to turn it off in the first few minutes because it appeared to be the story of the kind of people I really can't stand : pretentious L.A. Art People (Amy Adams and Armie Hammer) from the hillsides of the Santa Monica mountains. Totally empty inside, and arrogant. But then I thought, well, maybe the director is making a comment on that lifestyle. The movie looked good, excellent photography and set design. So I kept watching, and then it totally changed and became another movie entirely. Suddenly Jake Gyllenhaal is driving his wife and daughter through the middle of nowhere in Texas, in the middle of the night, when they are suddenly being terrorised by two carloads of young psychos, who ultimately run Jake and family off the road. This story then becomes the bulk of the film, and it's really a horror story in the "Last House On The Left" tradition. However, it's a trick because the horror story really only exists as a book that Amy Adam's ex-husband - also played by Jake Gyllenhaal - has written and sent to her for her critique.

At this point everything becomes very psychological; an examination of the nature of love relationships played out against a "Texas Chainsaw" background.

The movie is well worth seeing (though violent and horrible in some aspects), and it looks fantastic because director Tom Ford has a background in design, and fashion of all things. It has an interesting premise, and is expertly edited for maximum mystery and exploration of undercurrents. Also, the acting is top notch. Gyllenhaal and Adams never turn in anything less than a great performance in all of their movies, and in particular Michael Shannon gives an Oscar caliber performance as a country sheriff's detective who is out to nail the bad guys. The "Texas" part of the movie could have been a movie all by itself.

The whole thing is really great - it has a psychological feel that you don't see often - and everything else mentioned adds up to Ten.

I'd give it a huge Two Thumbs Up, except for one thing, and unfortunately it's a biggie.

The director doesn't quite know what he is trying to say, and he therefore has been unable to connect and drive home the various subtexts he presents. And, as in so many fims of the modern age, he leaves the audience hanging at the end. Tom Ford has even said, in interviews (as per IMDB) that "it's up to the audience to figure out the ending".

Well guess what? Forget that. Screenwriters of the great films never left it "up to the audience" because they were creative enough to write an ending for themselves. That's why it's called a Story. A story has a beginning, a middle and an end. And unless you are a great, legendary Art Film director ala David Lynch or Jean-Luc Godard or somebody with that kind of talent, don't try to do The Vague Ending, because it shoots your whole movie down.

Also, if you are gonna amp up all of these psychological concepts, which he did to great effect in this film - then be prepared to tie them all up into some kind of statement.

But in "Nocturnal Animals" there was nothing. Just "Last House On The Left" as made by a highly skilled fashion and art designer, played out against a backdrop of pretentious L.A. Art People, who we already know are phony.

The bottom line is that director Ford could have had a classic here, if he perhaps had had some assistance with the writing or directing.

Nonetheless, it's still a good movie, but violent in places.

That's all I know for tonight, SB. I'm looking forward to your cover!

See you in the morn.  I love you.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Monday + "The Founder"

Happy Late Monday Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day and a good weekend. I didn't see you on FB, so you must have been working on something. I am glad you are getting to go to Germany and Iceland. That will be a blast, and also an adventure.  :)

Today was Yer Basic Workday, as is the case these days, but I did manage to get up to Aliso Canyon for a nice walk this afternoon.

Tonight I watched a movie called "The Founder" (2016) starring Michael Keaton. It's the story of Ray Kroc, the entrepreneur who turned McDonald's into a worldwide empire. The movie was directed by a guy named John Lee Hancock, who also did the story of Walt Disney in "Mr. Banks" a few years ago, and he has a feel for these kind of biopics about men who have had a huge impact on America, and the world. In Disney's case, he pretty much built his empire on his own ideas, albeit with help from his brother and people in the movie business. Ray Kroc, on the other hand, took the idea of someone else - The McDonald brothers - and capitalised on it. As shown in the movie, the brothers did want to make a buck (who doesn't?), but not at the expense of their vision of the restaurant. Above all, they prized quality control. And, they were perfectly happy with their one very successful restaurant in San Bernardino, which owed much of it's success to it's fast service. The McDonald brothers invented fast food, before that term meant what it does today.

When they entered into a partnership with milkshake machine salesman Kroc, everything changed. He was like a Donald Trump of his time, though not born into wealth like Trump. But Kroc was a similar materialist who believed success in life was all about "more of everything" : more money, more acquisition, more stature.

He wasn't near the bad guy Trump is, but he was pretty ruthless to the McDonald brothers who created the original restaurant. He eventually forced them out of their own business, for a comparatively paltry 2.7 million dollars. And he portrayed himself, for a while, as the founder of the chain, hence the title of the movie.

Now, it must be said that McDonald's is an institution in America, and all over the world. Speaking for myself, though I don't eat there very often nowdays due to trying to "eat right", I have many very happy childhood memories of going to the Sherman Way McDonald's, which in the 1960s still had the Golden Arches and white and red tile design. The movie fairly portrays the "family atmosphere" that the McDonald brothers wanted to create and that Kroc did preserve after taking over. Regardless how one feels about the food, it is true that McDonald's represents the Icon Of Comfort In American Family Values in the same way as Disneyland and Coca-Cola. It takes us back to a time when families spent time together, or at least more than they seem to do today, and it also represents all that is Clean-Cut about America, the idealised vision of the country in the 1950s. And in that way, everyone has fond memories of McDonalds, as an Institution Of Nostalgia. So Ray Kroc wasn't all bad, and the movie does not portray him as such. But he was ruthless as a businessman, perhaps because he got such a late start. Prior to meeting the McDonalds and discovering their restaurant, he had been busting his butt as a 52 year old traveling salesman, of the milkshake machines that would wind up changing his life. But he was a materialist at heart, and that part of his personality came out with a vengeance once he had a taste of financial success.

Walt Disney was driven, too, and far more than Kroc. But Disney seemed truly to want to make people happy with his creations. Kroc did too - he wanted McDonald's (of which every creative idea was originally thought of by the brothers) to be enjoyed by all Americans and people in other countries too, and he wanted it to be clean and neat and wholesome, but more than anything he wanted the money, power and success it conferred on him personally. Unlike Walt Disney, Ray Kroc was an egomaniac. His wife Joan was pretty cool, though, and when she died she left a bulk of their fortune to various charities including NPR.

Michael Keaton is great as always in the lead role. "The Founder" is quite good for what it is, a true story of how a gigantic corporation was created by a very driven man in the days when things were wide open in America.

That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Happy Friday Night + Kobester + "Rawhide"

Happy Late Friday Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day. Maybe you got to do some shootin' tonight at a show? I hope so, or if not tonight then soon. :) I took The Kobester to see his heart doctor, and lo and behold he got another good report. She said that nothing has changed since his last visit in October 2016. His heart function is still the same, ditto his kidneys. His blood test was good. She says Kobi may just be her oldest patient and called him "amazing".

I gave him a bath today, too. He was not amazing about that, haha, because he hates baths. But now he is All Kobedogged Out and is chillin' here in the kitchen with me. The Black Kitty is crashed out on the sofa.

That was the main event of the afternoon. This evening I worked on my drawing while listening to "Kodama". It's an album that sneaks up on you, because there are a lot of interwoven melodic lines that don't jump out all at once, and you can miss them if you are concentrating on the rhythm of the music, which is very powerful on this record. It's the hardest rock record he has made with Alcest, and the rhythms are driven. But there's a lot of stuff going on beneath the surface, and I just noticed a lot of it tonight after listening for the first time in a month or so.

I also watched a "Rawhide" episode in which Clint Eastwood gets sick. Two steers die, and the crew thinks it's anthrax, so they are worried Clint has it too. Trail Boss Eric Fleming goes to the nearest town in search of a doctor but finds only a nurse, who volunteers to help. I was watching this actress, and she had some mannerisms and vocal characteristics I seemed to recognise, and then I thought : "That's gotta be Margaret O' Brien, all grown up". She was a child star who was in one of my favorite movies : "Meet Me In St. Louis", and a bunch of others. Mom was a big Margaret O' Brien fan, which was how I found out about her, and then in an unrelated but "small world" coincidence, my sister Sophie met and got a picture taken with her at some function or another a few years ago. Well anyhow, I love "Rawhide", and just like in other shows of that era when TV was fairly new, you never know who you will see in a guest starring role. In fact I bought the first season of "Rawhide" just because we saw an episode that guest starred John Cassavetes when the professor showed it at CSUN a couple months ago. Everything is a Small World.

I saw your post via Morgin of the flowers her husband sent her. I don't know him, but he's a good guy in my book.  :)

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

I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

I Love The Pinsch + Mario + "Gloria"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

I hope you had a nice day. Mine was a Thursday Hair Salon Day, and so it's kinda like clockwork these days. We are having beautiful weather though, and I hope to get back to afternoon hikes soon. Tomorrow I have to take the Koberman Pinscher to see his heart doctor. I am hopeful he will get a good report, or at least a passing grade, as he seems to be doing well considering his age, though he is a bit "leaky" because of his kidney medication.

But I have just gotta say : "Man, do I love that guy". It's a man/dog love affair, I'm tellin' ya.  :)

So anyhow, no chance of a hike or photos till Saturday at the earliest. It was posted today on FB that a man named Mario Maglieri passed away at the age of 93. He was the owner of three of the most famous nightclubs in Hollywood : The Whiskey A Go-Go, The Roxy and the Rainbow Bar and Grill (which wasn't technically a nightclub because it didn't have live music, but all the rockstars hung out there). I mention Mario because he was part of my rock n' roll history, as he no doubt was for thousands of other people. But for me, I was a week shy of 14 when I began going to concerts in 1974. I had been to four shows that year, including one at The Whiskey (to see Camel) but then in 1975 I went to my first shows at The Roxy. And that's when I met Mario. I didn't know him, he was just a man I met briefly, but he left an impression because he was such a gentleman and such a cool guy. He met patrons at the door, and because Grimsley would always stop to say hello (Grim is a notorious talker) Mario would shake our hands and tell us to have a great time. We saw The Tubes and Captain Beefheart in the Spring and Summer of '75. The Roxy had two shows per night in those days, one at 8pm and one at 11pm, and Mario would always let us stay for the second show for free. But he'd order us not to tell anybody.  :)

He was a real original : a rock n' roll kingpin from the WW2 Generation, looking sharp in an expensive suit with silver hair. And physically fit. He certainly stood out amongst all the long haired young people in jeans and t-shirts, but then he owned the joint. And he wanted everybody to have a good time. Those early shows at The Roxy are some of my greatest rock n' roll memories, and so tonight I remember Mario, who was also a WW2 Veteran like my Dad, and a very nice man.

Tonight's movie at CSUN was "Gloria" (1980), written and directed by John Cassavetes and starring Gena Rowlands in a butt-kicking role as an ex-Mobstress who knows how to handle a gun and is tougher than any tough guy. Rowlands has become one of my favorite actresses as a result of this Cassavetes retrospective, and she is at her best in "Gloria", where she gets to really go for it. The movie was one of Cassavetes few studio pictures, and so it looks and feels like a real Hollywood movie, with about 90% of the difficult Cassavetes aspects removed from the finished product. There is normal paced editing, no long running scenes, no in-and-out-of-focus camerawork, no ad libbing. It's as commercial as Cassavetes can get, which just shows that he can make a professional picture. And it's a lot of fun and a very good movie in it's own right, although having seen the Cassavetes oeuvre (man I hate that word but I used it because I had to, not to be hip) I am now more attuned to and interested in his personal films like "Faces" and "Husbands" and "Chinese Bookie", even though they are much more difficult to sit through.

But "Gloria" is great just for Rowlands' performance alone. She is protecting a young boy from Mafia types who believe he has witnessed a murder. That's all I can say without giving spoilers. I also remembered that we did the prints for "Gloria" when I worked at MGM, and sure enough, that was in the credits : "Prints by MGM (should've said Metrocolor but what the heck....).

And that was all the news for today. I saw a post about your friend Tyler whose designs are now being worn by Lady Gaga. That is super cool! And James is gonna cover Ed Sheeran. Cool again!

Everybody is doing their thing, and everybody is succeeding.

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

"Selva Obscura" + Work Through Setbacks + Listen To Your Spirit

Happy Late Wednesday Night, Sweet Baby,

I liked your video for "Selva Obscura"! You got some great Steadicam type shots of passing by the leaves, which gives an effect of gliding through the woods. Tina always sets the right tone in the videos she appears in, perhaps playing as a "stand in" for you the director. The music goes perfectly with the pictures, so now you have some experience with scoring. As I've heard it described, it is literally as you said - just a matter of watching clips over and over and timing each one so you will know how many seconds or minutes a section of music must be. And then allowing the images in each scene to dictate an appropriate theme.

That is a beautiful park you shot in, and I know I have seen it before in your still pics. Does the trail in the woods lead out to that open area and cliff overlooking the lake (or river) as in the video? Or did you shoot at two different locations, 1) wooded park and 2) lake/river park?

It looks and sounds great in either case. :)

Not having taken any Lit classes in school, I must admit I did not know the title reference, although I of course know Dante's Inferno. I just haven't read it, lol. Must remedy that one day soon.  :)

I was not aware you were having setbacks last Summer, but I hope all is going well now. Just remember, there is no turning back now. This is What You Do. As we discussed long ago, there will from time to time be periods of boom and periods of bust. But as long as you have your bottom line finances covered, your basic bills paid, you will be okay. And for you, most of the time it will be smooth sailing. You have so many talents and many connections that in the long run you will have nothing to worry about. A big, big part of it is just imaging how your life is going to be. Imaging (i.e. visualising) is one step beyond imagining. Imagining is saying "what if", and Imaging is saying "this is what will be".

And you did that, just by making your video for "Selva Obscura" in a time of uncertainty. You pushed through the setbacks by continuing to create. Anyway, take it from me because I am an all-time champ at never giving up and making my life my own vs. what the world thinks it should be. I did not have your array of talents, but what I did have was willpower (and a lot of help from various people), and while I did not always know what I wanted to do, I certainly knew what I did not want to do, as I have said. And as I went along, I realised that life is mostly created from within. And if you just stay 100% true to yourself (and keep the bottom line bills paid), and if you mentally say to yourself "nothing is gonna stop me", and visualise your life down to the smallest details, that it is pretty much guaranteed that your life is gonna work out in the general direction you have steered it in.

For an Artist, I would just say : just create, and stay focused on that, and on your inner dialogue. Life is trying to tell you, and show you, how big it is.

Well, I could go on and on all day about these things as you know.  :) But you already know what I am talking about.

Today was a gorgeous 90 degrees, so I took The Crew to Lake Balboa, and then at 3pm I even had time for a short hike at Limekiln Canyon. No pics, but soon I will have some to post. It's just a matter of having time for more outings. No movie or shows tonight, just reading my books and working on my latest drawing.

I saw a few posts, mostly music related and one for Sarah's upcoming tour, so all of that is great too.

If you have always felt just a little different, and that your life was just a little different, you felt that way for a Reason. And that's because your Spirit knew ahead of time what your life was gonna be.

So listen to your Spirit and do what you do.

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

Yet Another Great Photo + The Old West + Gotta Draw

Happy Late Night, my Darling,

Another fantastic picture this afternoon! It took me a few seconds to catch what I was looking at, it almost looked like a camera negative, but then I saw the arm and his hair and I knew it was a concert shot. Man, that is some pic, SB. It looks surreal. You are on a roll these days and I'll bet your bands are very happy with what you have been doing. I'm glad you've been going to lots of shows!

And don't forget the aforementioned and hoped-for Ton Of Shows, as per the description provided yesterday.  :)

A Golden Agers Tuesday for me, so just yer basic workday. My job takes a lot of focus and patience these days, much more than in the past, so I am grateful just for my downtime when I can read and relax. Hikes aren't as easy to come by, but I will try for sure to do one tomorrow.

No movie tonight, but I did watch an episode of "Rawhide" in which the cattle drivers come upon a group of young women whose wagon has broken down in the middle of nowhere. They are Western entertainers ala Annie Oakley, so they can shoot, which comes in handy when a grizzled, belligerent rancher shows up with his gunslingers to try and block the cattle crew from crossing a river toward their destination. A showdown ensues, as does romance.

Man, I love Westerns, SB! Everything takes place outside, on the trail or in the middle of nowhere. And everything is boiled down. There are only a few issues for people in Westerns : getting where they are going, avoiding Comanches, dealing with Gunslingers, crossing rivers, and eating Western "grub". And encountering suspicious townspeople occasionally, and meeting women......who are usually trapped by a grizzled rancher who runs the town.

So......if you knew all of this when you lived in the Old West, it would be pretty easy to navigate your way around.  :)  And in the Old West it pays to be a Straight Arrow like Eric Fleming, because the Good Guys Always Win.

I also started a new drawing. All pencil this year, inspired by Fursy, who I wish I had one millionth per cent of his talent, but onward I draw anyway! I just draw Weird Stuff, stuff that only makes sense to me.

I am glad you have so many things happening! Hopefully some picture taking for me in the near future.  :)

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

Great Pics! + Taco Bell Rules + "Phaedra"

Happy Late Night, Sweet Baby,

Wow, you got some incredible shots at that Chainsmokers concert! All kinds of angles and framing depicting the lights and staging. You also got some really cool lens artifacts on your shots of Delaney Jane, just great great stuff. Here's a quick question that I was wondering : how do you get your camera into shows? Are you getting photo passes? I am assuming so, because your pix were also posted by the production company, so if that is the case, then it is super cool. That would also explain the ability to move around during the show and shoot from different locations. But anyhow - yeah, some of your best shots yet!

I did not know The Chainsmokers, but they must be a fairly big band. The light show looks like one of the major-league ones you would see at perhaps a Radiohead show or something like that. Tool has also had some amazing light shows, and Pink Floyd of course. Rush too. It can really add an extra dimension to a concert. I am glad you got to go, and I hope you get to keep going to A Ton Of Shows (meaning "shows that in the aggregate weigh 2000 lbs.)

I also saw several music related posts, one for Sarah's tour with Drewsif Stalin. Very cool once again. I agree with him about the Taco Bell theory too, except I say, instead of "three days of Taco Bell", try about twenty years of Taco Bell. Maybe closer to 25! I always loved "T. Bell" as we called it; my first job was at the Taco Bell around the corner from my house, and I basically ate there on a regular basis from 1970 until 1995 or so, when I left the Rathburn Avenue house due to quake damage. Now, it is important to note that I did not eat Taco Bell on an every day basis, lol. That's would've definitely changed me, as he says. But I did eat it ongoing for all that time, and I am sure that it helped make me the person I am today!  :)

And I always loved T. Bell Hot Sauce, I would take handfuls of packets (before they started to dole them out to you from behind the counter - boo on that!) and I would just open them up and squeeze 'em straight into my mouth, maybe ten or twelve in a row. Imagine the sodium! Which is why I cannot do it anymore, alas.

But "back in the day", as they say (a cliche which I do not actually like) I could eat whatever I wanted with no ill effects. And I did, haha. And now I eat big salads of dandelion greens and stuff like that, aka The No Fun Diet.

But "it's all good", as they say (another cliche which I especially don't like, because it's such a Dave Matthews Band type thing to say. You know, like if you were at a DMB concert in the 90s, or at Coachella, and you were playing hackysack, you might say "it's all good". And that would bug me.....). But it works here, because everything worked out okay, eating-wise.  :)

Today was busy, taking Pearl to the dentist. Then shopping, and then this eve I went over to Grimsley's to hang out for a bit.

Yesterday was a typical Sunday with good singing in church. Then last night I watched a really unique movie called "Phaedra" (1962), directed by Jules Dassin, who also did my recently reviewed "Thieves' Highway". He also did one of the great "heist" or "caper" films ever made, called "Rififi", which came out in the mid-50s. At any rate, very briefly, "Phaedra" is the story of a wealthy Greek shipping magnate (Raf Vallone) who marries the daughter of his rival, whose shipping empire is even bigger, in hopes of consolidating with him.

However, the new wife - played by the excellent and fiery Melina Mercouri - having been forced into the marriage does not really love Vallone. Instead, she takes designs on his son from a first marriage (Anthony Perkins in a great performance), and the result is a very complex Greek Tragedy.

One thing about Jules Dassin, he sure makes movies that are different from the everyday. He is a craftsman to be sure, and working in the system, so he is not making art films, but what he is doing is subversive, like making a big budget art film. His movies look incredible and feature exotic locations, amazing black and white photography, and themes of alienation that would fit right into an Antonioni movie.

"Phaedra" is equal parts weird, melodramatic in the '60s style, and plot-driven like a Film Noir. Boy is it different. A big thumbs up from me.

Well, that's all for tonight. I am trying to get enough sleep and stay on top of things here at my job. Hopefully a hike by Wednesday or so.

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