It's been a couple of very rough days, not for me personally but for folks in the towns of of Thousand Oaks, Calabasas and Malibu, which lie just west of the Valley. This afternoon you could see an enormous cloud of smoke building from the Woolsey fire that has devastated the area. When I awoke to the news I feared that Woolsey Canyon was involved. That's the canyon in Chatsworth that leads up to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. It turned out the fire was a few miles further west. Maybe it began in Woolsey Canyon, I don't know. The whole thing is pretty horrible, coming as it did just a day after the shootings in Thousand Oaks just a few miles down the freeway. The winds have died down a bit tonight, so maybe the firefighters can get some containment on the blaze by tomorrow morning.
We in California have been getting beat by major fires in the last few years, and up in Northern Cal it is just as bad if not worse. Another thing is these winds. We used to get a few days of Santa Anas in October, then maybe again in March. But last year, once October rolled around the wind started blowing and basically didn't stop - except for a few days here and there - until March. You may recall me complaining about it because I hate wind more than anything. And it just blew and blew for weeks and months.
So this is all part of Global Warming, which is producing extreme weather phenomena all over the world. For us, it's drought accompanied by wind and fire. ///
In better news, it is beginning to look like it was indeed a Blue Wave that swept across the country on Election Day. We are seeing several races that were thought to be decided in favor of a Republican candidate now being recounted, with Democrats taking the lead in many cases. Overall, in total votes cast for Congress members throughout America, Democratic candidates got six million more votes than did Republicans.
Trump is toast, folks. Today the Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal newspaper, reported that Mueller's team has proof that Trump used campaign funds to pay off Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and that he personally directed the payoff.
He's all done as president, and his lackey Matt Whitaker, the buffoon I wrote about last night, is now being rejected by the very Justice Department he was supposed to helm. He may be too big an a-hole to step aside immediately (see former Trump a-hole Scott Pruitt as an example), but his tenure as Attorney General will be hampered by legal troubles if he doesn't leave on his own.
Lord, help us to save our country and our ecosphere. ////
I am a big fan of radio station KUSC, and normally I try to follow their lead and not mention any news items whatsoever here at the blog. They see their mission as one of being an oasis of classical music in the midst of constant tumult, and me, I like to do the same and just write about movies, or art, or just the details of my day (even if boring, haha), and I generally try to stay away from news events and especially politics. But these past few days, I felt the need to say something.
Always remember that most of the world is good, and most people are good. You know this is true because if most people were bad, we wouldn't have a world anymore. Even in Hitler's time, the Good Guys won, and they always do. That's the way it happens in Western movies, too....
Tonight's movie was "Klondike Kate" (1943), the earliest of the films from my William Castle Collection. Ann Savage stars as a young woman who has traveled from San Francisco all the way to Alaska in order to claim ownership of a profitable casino, left to her in a deed by her late father, the original owner. Upon arriving in Alaska, she discovers it to be a lawless place. The local "judge", a phoney baloney, informs her that her legally processed deed is worthless, just because a local mover and shaker (played by Tom Neal) has appropriated the casino for himself.
I must interject to note that Ann Savage and Tom Neal went on to appear together again, in the classic Film Noir "Detour", in which Miss Savage played a very famous role as a villain. Tom Neal was an actor who left an impression as well. He was dashingly handsome and equally troubled. He was from a wealthy family and had been a boxer in college. He had a bad temper and wound up killing his wife in a case that was ruled as manslaughter but was very likely first degree murder. Tom Neal, who was great in "Klondike Kate", and who had Clark Gable looks and was just as suave, wound up spending six years in State Prison for the death of his wife. His career, of course, was over and he died at 58 years of age.
Ann Savage, on the other hand, lived a full life. She never achieved stardom but you can see what great talent she had just by contrasting her performances in "Klondike Kate" and "Detour". She was a stylish and versatile actress of the type Hollywood could use more of.
We talked last night about the mechanics of a William Castle film. I just now IMDB'ed him and discovered that "Klondike Kate" was his debut feature. It runs a mere 64 minutes, but packs more action and story than many present day films that are twice it's length. Much of the movie takes place in the casino and features several song and dance numbers by dance hall girls who provided live entertainment during that era. The black and white photography is excellent and the print superb.
"Klondike Kate" may be the best Castle Western I have seen yet. The reason is Ann Savage and Tom Neal. See them in this movie and then watch them in "Detour", a 180 turn.
That's acting. See you in the morning. No wind please, and no fire. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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