Tonight I watched "Shadow Of The Thin Man"(1941), the fourth in the series and the fourth I've seen this month. "Shadow" might've been my favorite so far. William Powell just gets better and better each time out, and in this one there are some great gags, including a scene at a carnival where he is assaulted by a bunch of geeky kids on a merry-go-round, and also a free-for-all brawl at a restaurant, started by Asta the Dog. Asta gets in his usual amount of screentime, and as always he has his portable fire hydrant that Nick and Nora take with them to whatever hotel they happen to be staying in. This time they are back in San Francisco, their home. The plot has to do with the murder of a small-time hoodlum who is blackmailing the girlfriend of a crime boss. The boss fixes the local horse races, his girl skims off of the profits, the hoodlum knows this and threatens to tell........unless she gives him 8 Gees, just enough to pay off his own debt to the mobsters.
William Powell loves the horses, too, and in fact he seems to have a winning scam of his own, haha. He can be found at the track, martini in hand. The last thing he wants to do, as in every Thin Man movie, is to come out of retirement to solve a murder for the bumbling cops. But he always does unretire, due to pressure from his wife Myrna Loy, who craves exciting detective work as much as Powell wants to avoid it.
Every movie in the franchise follows a "whodunit" formula that ends with Powell gathering the suspects in a room at the end of the films, and grilling each one until he singles out the culprit, whose identity he knows beforehand. The formula works and the endings are fun because you can make your own guess as to who the killer is (I am two for four), but the real draw of the "Thin Man" movies is the tipsy suaveness of Powell, the aristocratic bemusement of his wife Myrna Loy, the star treatment of super dog Asta, and the down to earth quality they all possess. No snobs are these, though they have to deal with same in every movie, as well as with assorted Crumb Bums, Goons, Mooks & Weasels. The '30s and early '40s were full of such characters. "Squealers" would come later, when Film Noir rolled around in the late '40s, and I only added that characterization because I find the idea of "Squealers" to be hilarious in this context. I love the crimespeak terminology of the era. :)
As usual, I give Two Big Thumbs Up for "Shadow Of The Thin Man". The whole series is recommended as a prime example of what made Golden Era movies so great. I have two more "Thin Man" movies left to watch, one is on order and will be viewed within a week or so, and I am contemplating ordering the "Philo Vance" detective mysteries, earlier films that starred a pre-"Thin Man" William Powell, one of the greatest movie stars there ever was. /////
In football news, the Rams won, and will have a week off while the wildcard teams play next week. Their most likely opponent in the divisional round seems to be Da Bearss......
Cue SNL, Chris Farley and Mike Myers : "Bearss, Bearss, Bearss, Bearss".......(Ditka).
I think that Da Bearss will be toast in the sunny Colosseum, if it comes to that, though I only wrote about all of this so I could mention "Bearss, Bearss, Bearss, Bearss"........(Ditka).
Rams win, end of story. /////
This morn we had good singing in church, for the final Sunday of the year. I was the only male choir member in attendance, but I think I held down the fort behind our front row of female sopranos and altos. Can't wait to sing more and more in the new year.
See you tomorrow night in Times Square. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, December 31, 2018
Sunday, December 30, 2018
"Bachelor Mother" starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven
Tonight I watched a very funny film, "Bachelor Mother" (1939) starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven. I found it in the same Library search for director Garson Kanin that turned up "The True Glory", the WW2 documentary I watched and reviewed the other night. What I do, to look for unseen movies, is that I will see a director's name on an old movie playing on TCM, and then I will check the Los Angeles Public Library database for any movies by that director. I do this with actors and actresses too, the famous and the obscure, just to try to mine the Libe's holdings to the fullest extent, which rivals or maybe even surpasses Netflix. The Libe has nearly everything.
"Bachelor Mother" is pure screwball comedy with a mismatched romance driving the plot, and a baby thrown into the middle of the mix as a galvanizing device. The baby in the situation is like a Hot Potato, if you remember that game. No one wants him, but no one wants to drop him either, because.....well, he's a baby.
As the movie starts, it is Christmastime (and I didn't even search this one as a Christmas movie). The camera pans down a New York sidewalk. We see department store displays of the type that signify the New York Christmas Experience we have discussed. At the end of a city block we come to a stone building with a sign saying something like "Such & Such Home For Foundlings". A middle aged woman surreptitiously sets down a baby basket on the top of the steps in front of the door. Ginger Rogers just so happens to be walking past at that moment. Snow is falling, she is alarmed and reprimands the woman for abandoning her baby in freezing temperatures. The woman states that the baby isn't hers, and anyway, the people inside - who run the orphanage - will take good care of it. She rings the buzzer and leaves. Ginger is still on the steps as the door opens.
So begins a classic screwball mixup, in which the well meaning administrators of the orphanage mistakenly associate Ginger Rogers as the baby's mother, simply because she was there at the door when they opened it. Her protestations are in vain, they've heard it all before; denials from mothers who are ashamed for one reason or another. Keep in mind that this was the 1930s, when unwed mothers were ostracized. Here, though, everything is played light and for comic value.
Ginger works at the department store we passed on the sidewalk. She is a clerk in the toy department, but has just been given a pink slip now that Christmas is over. The orphanage administrators vow to help her retain her job, if only she will admit to being the baby's mother. By this point she is worn down, and broke, so she agrees. The orphanage president then personally visits the CEO of the department store and asks that Ginger Rogers be removed from the layoff and given her job back, so that she will have the means to support herself and her newly acquired baby. The CEO is played by David Niven, who was the King of Suave, Sophisticated but Slightly Flustered Comedy. He was doing it before Monty Python were born. He was English but could play American. He was really funny.
Once he enters the picture, a romance threatens to blossom. Of course it begins, as most movie romances do, as an antagonistic relationship, but because you and I know our movie formulas, we are aware of the possibilities ahead. He likes Ginger, his employee, and he is nice to her......
But Holy Smokes, now his Gigantic New York Blowhard Dad, who owns the department store, starts to see his son Niven around town in the company of Rogers......and the baby.
He makes assumptions and is outraged at the illegitimacy of it all. His son and that toy department clerk (Ginger), unmarried and with a child. The outrage! Blackmail is involved, too, though I shant tell you how.
There are a good many other characters threading into the story, as always happens in Golden Era films, but "Bachelor Mother" is all about the chemistry between Rogers and Niven, and his comedic ability. David Niven was very well known in the 1960s. His star seems to have waned a bit in memory since then, but I think it should be restored. He was a comic genius in his own sly way, very posh and stiff upper lip, unflappable but flappable.
"Bachelor Mother" is pure fun with the kind of story that plays all the way through without diversion, in keeping with the high quality screenwriting of the 1930s. There were no extraneous scenes in movies back then. A plot moved from Point A to Point B to Point C, and so forth to the end. And to tell a well-developed story and do it in Screwball style, with all the necessary comic timing......you had to be very, very talented.
This is another example of why I hold Old Hollywood in such high regard. No one ever made better movies than the studios of the Golden Era.
Two Thumbs Up for "Bachelor Mother". I will look for more David Niven movies as the New Year begins, and more from Ginger Rogers as well.
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
"Bachelor Mother" is pure screwball comedy with a mismatched romance driving the plot, and a baby thrown into the middle of the mix as a galvanizing device. The baby in the situation is like a Hot Potato, if you remember that game. No one wants him, but no one wants to drop him either, because.....well, he's a baby.
As the movie starts, it is Christmastime (and I didn't even search this one as a Christmas movie). The camera pans down a New York sidewalk. We see department store displays of the type that signify the New York Christmas Experience we have discussed. At the end of a city block we come to a stone building with a sign saying something like "Such & Such Home For Foundlings". A middle aged woman surreptitiously sets down a baby basket on the top of the steps in front of the door. Ginger Rogers just so happens to be walking past at that moment. Snow is falling, she is alarmed and reprimands the woman for abandoning her baby in freezing temperatures. The woman states that the baby isn't hers, and anyway, the people inside - who run the orphanage - will take good care of it. She rings the buzzer and leaves. Ginger is still on the steps as the door opens.
So begins a classic screwball mixup, in which the well meaning administrators of the orphanage mistakenly associate Ginger Rogers as the baby's mother, simply because she was there at the door when they opened it. Her protestations are in vain, they've heard it all before; denials from mothers who are ashamed for one reason or another. Keep in mind that this was the 1930s, when unwed mothers were ostracized. Here, though, everything is played light and for comic value.
Ginger works at the department store we passed on the sidewalk. She is a clerk in the toy department, but has just been given a pink slip now that Christmas is over. The orphanage administrators vow to help her retain her job, if only she will admit to being the baby's mother. By this point she is worn down, and broke, so she agrees. The orphanage president then personally visits the CEO of the department store and asks that Ginger Rogers be removed from the layoff and given her job back, so that she will have the means to support herself and her newly acquired baby. The CEO is played by David Niven, who was the King of Suave, Sophisticated but Slightly Flustered Comedy. He was doing it before Monty Python were born. He was English but could play American. He was really funny.
Once he enters the picture, a romance threatens to blossom. Of course it begins, as most movie romances do, as an antagonistic relationship, but because you and I know our movie formulas, we are aware of the possibilities ahead. He likes Ginger, his employee, and he is nice to her......
But Holy Smokes, now his Gigantic New York Blowhard Dad, who owns the department store, starts to see his son Niven around town in the company of Rogers......and the baby.
He makes assumptions and is outraged at the illegitimacy of it all. His son and that toy department clerk (Ginger), unmarried and with a child. The outrage! Blackmail is involved, too, though I shant tell you how.
There are a good many other characters threading into the story, as always happens in Golden Era films, but "Bachelor Mother" is all about the chemistry between Rogers and Niven, and his comedic ability. David Niven was very well known in the 1960s. His star seems to have waned a bit in memory since then, but I think it should be restored. He was a comic genius in his own sly way, very posh and stiff upper lip, unflappable but flappable.
"Bachelor Mother" is pure fun with the kind of story that plays all the way through without diversion, in keeping with the high quality screenwriting of the 1930s. There were no extraneous scenes in movies back then. A plot moved from Point A to Point B to Point C, and so forth to the end. And to tell a well-developed story and do it in Screwball style, with all the necessary comic timing......you had to be very, very talented.
This is another example of why I hold Old Hollywood in such high regard. No one ever made better movies than the studios of the Golden Era.
Two Thumbs Up for "Bachelor Mother". I will look for more David Niven movies as the New Year begins, and more from Ginger Rogers as well.
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, December 29, 2018
Elizabeth + Good News + Chilly + "Conflict" starring Bogie and the Angeles Crest Highway
Elizabeth, it was nice to see that "Butterfly" got a screening! That is fantastic. Even better is that it was shown to a full house. Really great, so congratulations. I knew something good was gonna happen, and I am predicting more good news to come. Just keep doing what you do and don't let up. 2019 is gonna be a very good year, mark my words. Thanks for posting the news and the accompanying pics. I'm glad you've made a few posts recently, happy to see you back. :)
It is super chilly tonight. I'm sitting here in Pearl's kitchen with two sweatshirts on over a t-shirt and a Pendleton on top of all that. Pearl has central heat but it's expensive. One good thing about The Tiny Apartment is that I can roast the joint with just a little space heater. Pearl has all tile floors, no carpet to keep the heat in, plus the front of the house is all big, open rooms, living room/dining room/kitchen all connected. It's drafty. So I'm L.A. cold, dreaming of triple-digit temps to come, six months down the road.
I watched an excellent crime thriller this evening called "Conflict" (1945), starring Humphrey Bogart. Bogie is unhappily married to wife Rose Hobart. They have been invited to the home of their friend Sydney Greenstreet, for a party to "celebrate" their 5th wedding anniversary. Greenstreet is a renowned psychiatrist. The couple agree to go to the party, and to make nice while there, but in reality behind the scenes, Bogie has just confessed to his wife that he is in love with her sister Alexis Smith. This is a twisted situation, and so it's a good thing we have Sydney Greenstreet on hand as a guiding force. As your reviewer, I would be remiss if I did not advise you to watch as many movies that have Sydney Greenstreet in them as you can get your hands on.
But back to the picture : Bogie and wife go to the party, and the sister is there too. He can barely control his feelings for her. Later that night, the three of them are driving home (the sister is to stay overnight), and they get into an accident. Sorry about the spoiler. Bogie is left with a broken leg, and as he is convalescing - with his sister-in-law still in the house - he comes up with a plan to get rid of his wife, while using his injury as an alibi. He is banking on his belief that his feelings for the sister are reciprocal.
Man, is he ever winding himself up in a tangled web. Bogie and his wife have a cabin way up in the woods at the top of Angeles Crest Highway.
Finally, there is a movie that shows just how scary this road is. Even way back in 1945, the screenwriter knew it! I myself, much as I like to hike and find new trails, am squeamish about ever driving Angeles Crest, as I remember it from my childhood on trips with Dad and Roy (Pearl's husband, long since passed). As a kid I don't remember being scared, but something lingered in my memory, and when I read online a few years ago about Angeles Crest being one of the scariest roads in America, I thought "oh yeah, that's right".
So Bogie fakes a reconciliation with his wife. He suggests they go to their cabin, to get away from it all and rekindle their marriage. From this point the plot takes over and I cannot reveal any more, except to warn you to stay away from Angeles Crest Highway.
I've gotta give you a quick aside about mountainous highways. Once, around 1998. the late great Mr. D suggested to my Dad and I a trip to the beach. He would drive, we were gonna go up near the Ventura County line, just past Malibu. I'm sure D meant no harm, but he decided to take Decker Canyon Road to get to Pacific Coast Highway. The time of year was perhaps Spring, and when we got to the middle of the canyon, it was completely fogged in, people.
I am talking "can't see twenty feet in front of you" fogged in.
And we were driving a narrow, winding two lane canyon road, high up in the mountains, with an 800 foot drop off just a few feet off to our right.
That was the most recent White Knuckle Ride in my lifetime, and I have no plans to make another.
But in reminiscing about childhood rides through Angeles Crest Highway, even though they didn't scare me as a kid (because a kid would have no context to be scared), I thought about our trip through Decker Canyon that day in 1998, and tonight as I watched the movie, I felt vindication of my adult fear of that road and of Angeles Crest, which is even worse.
If you are a macho four wheel type of guy, it might not faze you, but you will never catch me up there. And not only does the director of "Conflict" agree (back in 1945), but so does Humphrey Bogart!
He warns his wife about the road, even as he suggests she drive up to their cabin herself, while he supposedly attends to a last minute "business meeting" with his architectural firm.
I can tell you no more, but from what I have IMDB'd, it looks like the pivotal scenes were actually shot on Angeles Crest Highway. Beyond that, the movie is an exceptional thriller, with many plot twists and a psychological point of view from inside Bogart's mind as he tries to cover up what he may have done.
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Conflict". It's got the look of a Noir in places but it's more of a straight crime movie. I had heard of it but hadn't seen it until tonight and am very surprised it is not more well known. It's one of the best Humphrey Bogart movies I have seen.
I just did a Library search for more Bogart movies and was highly successful, so look out for a Bogie marathon in early 2019.
See you in the morning. Stay off those mountain roads! :)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
It is super chilly tonight. I'm sitting here in Pearl's kitchen with two sweatshirts on over a t-shirt and a Pendleton on top of all that. Pearl has central heat but it's expensive. One good thing about The Tiny Apartment is that I can roast the joint with just a little space heater. Pearl has all tile floors, no carpet to keep the heat in, plus the front of the house is all big, open rooms, living room/dining room/kitchen all connected. It's drafty. So I'm L.A. cold, dreaming of triple-digit temps to come, six months down the road.
I watched an excellent crime thriller this evening called "Conflict" (1945), starring Humphrey Bogart. Bogie is unhappily married to wife Rose Hobart. They have been invited to the home of their friend Sydney Greenstreet, for a party to "celebrate" their 5th wedding anniversary. Greenstreet is a renowned psychiatrist. The couple agree to go to the party, and to make nice while there, but in reality behind the scenes, Bogie has just confessed to his wife that he is in love with her sister Alexis Smith. This is a twisted situation, and so it's a good thing we have Sydney Greenstreet on hand as a guiding force. As your reviewer, I would be remiss if I did not advise you to watch as many movies that have Sydney Greenstreet in them as you can get your hands on.
But back to the picture : Bogie and wife go to the party, and the sister is there too. He can barely control his feelings for her. Later that night, the three of them are driving home (the sister is to stay overnight), and they get into an accident. Sorry about the spoiler. Bogie is left with a broken leg, and as he is convalescing - with his sister-in-law still in the house - he comes up with a plan to get rid of his wife, while using his injury as an alibi. He is banking on his belief that his feelings for the sister are reciprocal.
Man, is he ever winding himself up in a tangled web. Bogie and his wife have a cabin way up in the woods at the top of Angeles Crest Highway.
Finally, there is a movie that shows just how scary this road is. Even way back in 1945, the screenwriter knew it! I myself, much as I like to hike and find new trails, am squeamish about ever driving Angeles Crest, as I remember it from my childhood on trips with Dad and Roy (Pearl's husband, long since passed). As a kid I don't remember being scared, but something lingered in my memory, and when I read online a few years ago about Angeles Crest being one of the scariest roads in America, I thought "oh yeah, that's right".
So Bogie fakes a reconciliation with his wife. He suggests they go to their cabin, to get away from it all and rekindle their marriage. From this point the plot takes over and I cannot reveal any more, except to warn you to stay away from Angeles Crest Highway.
I've gotta give you a quick aside about mountainous highways. Once, around 1998. the late great Mr. D suggested to my Dad and I a trip to the beach. He would drive, we were gonna go up near the Ventura County line, just past Malibu. I'm sure D meant no harm, but he decided to take Decker Canyon Road to get to Pacific Coast Highway. The time of year was perhaps Spring, and when we got to the middle of the canyon, it was completely fogged in, people.
I am talking "can't see twenty feet in front of you" fogged in.
And we were driving a narrow, winding two lane canyon road, high up in the mountains, with an 800 foot drop off just a few feet off to our right.
That was the most recent White Knuckle Ride in my lifetime, and I have no plans to make another.
But in reminiscing about childhood rides through Angeles Crest Highway, even though they didn't scare me as a kid (because a kid would have no context to be scared), I thought about our trip through Decker Canyon that day in 1998, and tonight as I watched the movie, I felt vindication of my adult fear of that road and of Angeles Crest, which is even worse.
If you are a macho four wheel type of guy, it might not faze you, but you will never catch me up there. And not only does the director of "Conflict" agree (back in 1945), but so does Humphrey Bogart!
He warns his wife about the road, even as he suggests she drive up to their cabin herself, while he supposedly attends to a last minute "business meeting" with his architectural firm.
I can tell you no more, but from what I have IMDB'd, it looks like the pivotal scenes were actually shot on Angeles Crest Highway. Beyond that, the movie is an exceptional thriller, with many plot twists and a psychological point of view from inside Bogart's mind as he tries to cover up what he may have done.
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Conflict". It's got the look of a Noir in places but it's more of a straight crime movie. I had heard of it but hadn't seen it until tonight and am very surprised it is not more well known. It's one of the best Humphrey Bogart movies I have seen.
I just did a Library search for more Bogart movies and was highly successful, so look out for a Bogie marathon in early 2019.
See you in the morning. Stay off those mountain roads! :)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, December 28, 2018
Elizabeth + Instagram + "The True Glory", a WW2 Documentary
I'm back at Pearl's. Much chillier tonight, feels like it's gonna go down into the low 40s, maybe upper 30s. So far this Fall and Winter, I've been getting by with sweatshirts and Pendletons. Haven't had to wear a jacket even once. That may not last if this keeps up. Plus the Gale Force Winds are back. This afternoon, I met my sister Vickie and our friend Parham ( a student she tutors) out at Lake Balboa. We had a nice walk around the lake but nearly got blown away in the process. The water was so choppy from the wind that small waves were crashing into the cement banks. The large flock of coots in the water were bobbing all over the place, up and down, up and down.....(underwater).....then up and down again. We cracked up because it looked like they were enjoying it.
Elizabeth, I saw your Instagram photo from Minnesota, the snowy Christmas shot overlooking the North Shore. Very much in the wintry spirit of the Holiday, and I hope you had a nice Christmas. You have a lot of courage to position yourself on cliffsides and peaks as you do. I could climb up there, but you would only get me ten feet from the edge, lol (and in the snow, make that twenty feet!)
I Googled some info about Instagram, and I see that it is a medium for iPhones, hence the "instant" aspect of posting photos. I will not be able to post any myself, but I discovered I can do "likes" by double clicking my Chromebook mousepad, so I did my first Instagram "like" this afternoon. Guess which pic it was for....... :)
Tonight I watched a WW2 documentary film called "The True Glory" (1945). I had never heard of it but found it in a library database search for director Garson Kanin, whose name came up in some way that I can't recall. Anyhow, the film was sanctioned by the United States government as an end-of-war statement on the D-Day Invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and how it led to the defeat of Germany 11 months later. The entire film was edited together from battlefield footage shot by military cameramen. That must have been a new phenomenon at the time, to have motion picture cameramen recording the horrors of the war. These photographers must have had some training, too, because they not only capture the immediacy of what is happening all around them but their shots are well framed and tracked. There are no close up scenes of firefights, mostly the camera operators seem to have been situated with artillery battalions or on battleships, but they still photographed the magnitude of what was taking place. A few scenes from Bergen Belsen will shock you to your core.
As one who has tried to make a long and ongoing study of the war, because I think it has been the pivotal event in our modern history, and I also think that it seems to be fading away as an event of major consequence for today's young people, I find that the images shown in the footage of this film and in the famous television documentaries like "The World At War" pretty much say all that can be said. The scenes shot as they were happening far outweigh any words I could write in an attempt to describe them.
When I was a little kid, I was steeped in the war, because my Dad had participated in it. He was a sergeant in the Air Force as you know, not in combat but right behind it, and he was in Germany as part of the occupying Allied force for six months after the war. He saw what is shown in this film, the citycapes bombed to smithereens. Corpses lying by the rubble. I don't know if Dad saw those, perhaps not, but what you see in this film is what The End Of The World would look like from the point of view of one country, Germany, whose crazed leadership started the war. They got bombed "into the Stone Age" for their troubles, as the cliche goes, and you see this in the film. I sometimes find it hard to reconcile the idea of modern life with what happened only 75 years ago, which was a battle for whether the world was going to continue or not. As you know, I strongly believe in the idea of good vs. evil, as far as spiritual forces are concerned, and at that time, evil had established a very strong human presence in the persons of Hitler, et al.
This is no joke, nor conjecture. All one must do is watch the footage that was actually shot during something called a "World War", as if such a thing was just one more inevitable human event. This war ended only fifteen years before I was born, which also blows my mind, because when I was little it seemed like ancient history, but it wasn't. It was recent, and it still is, and 60 million people died.
Sorry to be gruesome. Last night I was writing about the uplift of "Little Women", and now you see why I believe that women should run the world, or at least be given the chance to try.
But I give "The True Glory" Two Huge Thumbs Up for it's depictions of the horrors of war, and for the evidence it shows that the war was just. Many wars aren't just, but this one was, because of what was occurring in Germany. I am of the opinion that neither that country nor Japan should be allowed a military for a good long while to come. Sorry, but that's what I think. Gotta protect the world.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Elizabeth, I saw your Instagram photo from Minnesota, the snowy Christmas shot overlooking the North Shore. Very much in the wintry spirit of the Holiday, and I hope you had a nice Christmas. You have a lot of courage to position yourself on cliffsides and peaks as you do. I could climb up there, but you would only get me ten feet from the edge, lol (and in the snow, make that twenty feet!)
I Googled some info about Instagram, and I see that it is a medium for iPhones, hence the "instant" aspect of posting photos. I will not be able to post any myself, but I discovered I can do "likes" by double clicking my Chromebook mousepad, so I did my first Instagram "like" this afternoon. Guess which pic it was for....... :)
Tonight I watched a WW2 documentary film called "The True Glory" (1945). I had never heard of it but found it in a library database search for director Garson Kanin, whose name came up in some way that I can't recall. Anyhow, the film was sanctioned by the United States government as an end-of-war statement on the D-Day Invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and how it led to the defeat of Germany 11 months later. The entire film was edited together from battlefield footage shot by military cameramen. That must have been a new phenomenon at the time, to have motion picture cameramen recording the horrors of the war. These photographers must have had some training, too, because they not only capture the immediacy of what is happening all around them but their shots are well framed and tracked. There are no close up scenes of firefights, mostly the camera operators seem to have been situated with artillery battalions or on battleships, but they still photographed the magnitude of what was taking place. A few scenes from Bergen Belsen will shock you to your core.
As one who has tried to make a long and ongoing study of the war, because I think it has been the pivotal event in our modern history, and I also think that it seems to be fading away as an event of major consequence for today's young people, I find that the images shown in the footage of this film and in the famous television documentaries like "The World At War" pretty much say all that can be said. The scenes shot as they were happening far outweigh any words I could write in an attempt to describe them.
When I was a little kid, I was steeped in the war, because my Dad had participated in it. He was a sergeant in the Air Force as you know, not in combat but right behind it, and he was in Germany as part of the occupying Allied force for six months after the war. He saw what is shown in this film, the citycapes bombed to smithereens. Corpses lying by the rubble. I don't know if Dad saw those, perhaps not, but what you see in this film is what The End Of The World would look like from the point of view of one country, Germany, whose crazed leadership started the war. They got bombed "into the Stone Age" for their troubles, as the cliche goes, and you see this in the film. I sometimes find it hard to reconcile the idea of modern life with what happened only 75 years ago, which was a battle for whether the world was going to continue or not. As you know, I strongly believe in the idea of good vs. evil, as far as spiritual forces are concerned, and at that time, evil had established a very strong human presence in the persons of Hitler, et al.
This is no joke, nor conjecture. All one must do is watch the footage that was actually shot during something called a "World War", as if such a thing was just one more inevitable human event. This war ended only fifteen years before I was born, which also blows my mind, because when I was little it seemed like ancient history, but it wasn't. It was recent, and it still is, and 60 million people died.
Sorry to be gruesome. Last night I was writing about the uplift of "Little Women", and now you see why I believe that women should run the world, or at least be given the chance to try.
But I give "The True Glory" Two Huge Thumbs Up for it's depictions of the horrors of war, and for the evidence it shows that the war was just. Many wars aren't just, but this one was, because of what was occurring in Germany. I am of the opinion that neither that country nor Japan should be allowed a military for a good long while to come. Sorry, but that's what I think. Gotta protect the world.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, December 27, 2018
"Little Women", an American Classic + Books
This is my last night writing from home until late January, as tomorrow I will be back at Pearl's for another work cycle. I took it easy today after three go-go days in a row of church services, singing, and the Christmas get-together and meal at Pearl's. Mostly, I just stayed in and read my various books, the RFK I mentioned yesterday, plus a novel by Michael Harvey called "Brighton". I mentioned that Harvey was recommended by Stephen King, and this is my second book by him, the other being "Pulse", his latest. I am also trying to finish by the end of the year a book called "Regular Polytopes" by mathematician H.S.M. Coxeter. This book (written in 1948) was recommended by Dr. Farrell as a way for readers to understand four dimensional concepts, presented in shapes, or polytopes, such as dodecahedrons and icosahedrons. I hadn't heard those terms since junior high. I bought the book on Dr. Joe's suggestion, but by the time I got halfway through, the math was utterly incomprehensible to me. The use of symbols is like another language and I would have to learn it to be able to fully understand what Coxeter is talking about. However, because I had already finished half of the book by Halloween, rather than give up I was determined to read the rest of it, a few pages at a time, just to absorb the words and equations, even though I don't understand them in the literal sense. I hope that just by simply reading, I will process something useful if only on a subconscious level. So that is my third book of the moment, "Regular Polytopes", and I will finish all three by year's end.
I didn't get in the car today but I did walk down to the LIbe for movies, and tonight I watched the 1949 version of "Little Women", adapted from the famous book by Louisa May Alcott that has been made and remade many times. My Mom loved this movie. I had never seen it, even though it is a classic and you know that I will gladly watch so-called "women's pictures" (or "chick flicks" if you prefer) because I don't think of movies in such terms. To me, there are only stories. Stories that are either interesting or not, entertaining or not, but most importantly, stories that either make you feel something or not.
Everyone has heard of the title "Little Women", and I knew it to be renowned, so I checked it out from the library and discovered that it was every bit as great as it was said to be.
You have to have a feel for such films, especially if you are a man in this cynical day and age. I am like George Costanza, a straight man who loves opera, who will watch women's movies and anything with deep emotion and expression, which we are conditioned to believe in lowbrow America are the domain of gay men and women. I say, hey I have feelings too. I am a Human Being. Therefore, any story or artistic medium that makes me feel something will get my interest. In fact, what will decidedly not get my interest is the sort of cynical, crude "guy films", especially "bro"-style comedies-that-aren't-funny, that are passed off as male bonding films nowdays. Give me a women's picture any day over that garbage.
So I loved "Little Women", which seems to me an American Classic, written by an early feminist writer when that term meant something less strident. Louisa May Alcott portrayed herself in the lead character of "Jo", the free spirited tomboy of an 1860s family of all women, four daughters and their mother. The father is a Pastor, off ministering to troops in the Civil War. Eldest daughter Jo, played by June Allyson, rallies the family to stick together. Her sisters each have strong personalities, the shy and musical Margaret O'Brien, the prim and snooty Elizabeth Taylor, and the regal Janet Leigh, the traditional female of the era who is the first to do what is expected of her, to get married to a respectable gentleman.
"Little Women" is a period piece with fantastic MGM sets that look like small town Massachusetts in 1860, but what you also notice is the manners that people had at that time. This is not simply a contrivance of the screenwriters, the dialogue was taken from the book, and the way people spoke to one another in those days was elegant and polite, but without being forced. It was considerate, and it reminds you of the letters that the soldiers wrote to their families in Ken Burns' famous documentary "The Civil War". Everything about "Little Women" evokes that era : the build of the houses, their interiors, the dress of the young women, the way they speak, their compassion for one another. They are like different people entirely from who we are today, and it makes the viewer long for that time.
The novel was romanticized, of course, and Louisa May Alcott is regarded as a great American writer. But she was writing from the bottom of her heart, and this is stressed in the movie. She was writing about the deepest feelings of young women, taken from her own family life shared with her own sisters, and she laid their feelings and personalities out for the world to see. This is real feminism, in my opinion, though as a male I am sure I could be castigated for it.
But this is optimistic feminism, the best of female energy. That's the way I see it.
I feel a connection to that time in America, and you probably do as well. That's why they have made about eight versions of "Little Women" with a new one on the way in 2019, starring Saoirse Ronan.
It's a great story in any era, depicting the best in the female spirit through the sisters who have several different personality types, but who all have the high values that were idealised in children and in families of that time period.
See it for the great acting by all involved, and for the beautiful recreation of 1860s America, and for the superb colorful photography. See it for the Women's point of view.
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Little Women" (1949 version).
That's all for tonight, see you in the morning with much love until then and continuing......
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I didn't get in the car today but I did walk down to the LIbe for movies, and tonight I watched the 1949 version of "Little Women", adapted from the famous book by Louisa May Alcott that has been made and remade many times. My Mom loved this movie. I had never seen it, even though it is a classic and you know that I will gladly watch so-called "women's pictures" (or "chick flicks" if you prefer) because I don't think of movies in such terms. To me, there are only stories. Stories that are either interesting or not, entertaining or not, but most importantly, stories that either make you feel something or not.
Everyone has heard of the title "Little Women", and I knew it to be renowned, so I checked it out from the library and discovered that it was every bit as great as it was said to be.
You have to have a feel for such films, especially if you are a man in this cynical day and age. I am like George Costanza, a straight man who loves opera, who will watch women's movies and anything with deep emotion and expression, which we are conditioned to believe in lowbrow America are the domain of gay men and women. I say, hey I have feelings too. I am a Human Being. Therefore, any story or artistic medium that makes me feel something will get my interest. In fact, what will decidedly not get my interest is the sort of cynical, crude "guy films", especially "bro"-style comedies-that-aren't-funny, that are passed off as male bonding films nowdays. Give me a women's picture any day over that garbage.
So I loved "Little Women", which seems to me an American Classic, written by an early feminist writer when that term meant something less strident. Louisa May Alcott portrayed herself in the lead character of "Jo", the free spirited tomboy of an 1860s family of all women, four daughters and their mother. The father is a Pastor, off ministering to troops in the Civil War. Eldest daughter Jo, played by June Allyson, rallies the family to stick together. Her sisters each have strong personalities, the shy and musical Margaret O'Brien, the prim and snooty Elizabeth Taylor, and the regal Janet Leigh, the traditional female of the era who is the first to do what is expected of her, to get married to a respectable gentleman.
"Little Women" is a period piece with fantastic MGM sets that look like small town Massachusetts in 1860, but what you also notice is the manners that people had at that time. This is not simply a contrivance of the screenwriters, the dialogue was taken from the book, and the way people spoke to one another in those days was elegant and polite, but without being forced. It was considerate, and it reminds you of the letters that the soldiers wrote to their families in Ken Burns' famous documentary "The Civil War". Everything about "Little Women" evokes that era : the build of the houses, their interiors, the dress of the young women, the way they speak, their compassion for one another. They are like different people entirely from who we are today, and it makes the viewer long for that time.
The novel was romanticized, of course, and Louisa May Alcott is regarded as a great American writer. But she was writing from the bottom of her heart, and this is stressed in the movie. She was writing about the deepest feelings of young women, taken from her own family life shared with her own sisters, and she laid their feelings and personalities out for the world to see. This is real feminism, in my opinion, though as a male I am sure I could be castigated for it.
But this is optimistic feminism, the best of female energy. That's the way I see it.
I feel a connection to that time in America, and you probably do as well. That's why they have made about eight versions of "Little Women" with a new one on the way in 2019, starring Saoirse Ronan.
It's a great story in any era, depicting the best in the female spirit through the sisters who have several different personality types, but who all have the high values that were idealised in children and in families of that time period.
See it for the great acting by all involved, and for the beautiful recreation of 1860s America, and for the superb colorful photography. See it for the Women's point of view.
Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Little Women" (1949 version).
That's all for tonight, see you in the morning with much love until then and continuing......
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Merry Christmas Once More + A Nice Holiday + Beached + "Marjorie Morningstar"
Merry Christmas once again. Elizabeth, I hope you had a nice holiday in whatever way you celebrated, which I imagine was with your family. I went over to Pearl's, and this time my sister Vickie came over too, with her husband and eldest son (my nephew), so it was a reprise of our recent Thanksgiving dinner, only with tri-tip instead of turkey, and minus my other nephew who was working. Pearl's daughter created a very nice meal for us, and of course the wine and conversation both flowed.
I got home at about 6pm, totally beached, and was ready to take a short nap, or at least lie down and read one of my books for an hour or so, but then........
I looked in the fridge and saw that I was out of milk. If it was just me, I could go without milk for a day, or even longer. But the thing is that my coffee cannot go without milk. Not even for a single day. My days of being a black coffee drinker ended decades ago, and of course like you (referring to the General You here), I must have my coffee upon waking. It's not up for debate.
So, what to do? I didn't wanna get back in the car and drive anywhere. I was ready to go into a food coma. So I Googled the Christmas hours of our two most prominent local supermarkets - Ralphs and Vons - figuring they'd all be closed up......but Vons was open! Til 7pm. I had 45 minutes to score the all important milk. Strangely, probably because I am a bit nutty, I decided to walk down to Vons. It's not far, a little over a half mile from me, but the wind was blowing and it was chilly, and I was gonna be carrying a gallon of milk back to the pad. I am stubborn that way, however. I drive so much everyday, and in so much traffic with so many stoplights that I really hate driving if I don't have to. So even though I was a beached whale, I walked down to Vons, bought my gallon of milk and also a gallon of water, and carried one in each hand back home.
Man, what an achievement. Right? :)
But at least I will have milk for my coffee in the morning, and I won't have to use tap water to make it.
Remember the days when you could use tap water for everything? You probably still can, unless you live in Flint, but what the heck.
When I got back home, I did beach myself for the next 90 minutes, laying down to alternately nap and read my RFK book "Shadow Play". It contains no information I wasn't already aware of, but it's a good read anyway. I do a lot of JFK/RFK books and will have two more coming in the New Year. I think we've got JFK pretty much solved, but the Bobby Kennedy case is still a mystery.
By 9pm I had emerged from my coma and was ready for a movie, the romantic drama "Marjorie Morningstar" (1958), starring a now grown-up Natalie Wood (remember that we had just seen her as a child in "Miracle On 34th Street" a few nights ago). Here she is in the lead role as Marjorie Morgenstern, a nice Jewish girl from an upper-middle class New York family. She works as a summer camp counselor and also participates in a small theatrical company headed up by her witty and more worldly friend Carolyn Jones (who would go on to fame as "Morticia Addams"). When Jones suggests to Marjorie that they row a canoe across the summer camp's lake, to get to the resort on the other side, Marjorie jumps at the idea, because an "important" playwright works there at another slightly bigger theater. He is Gene Kelly, all muscular Irish dancing charm. He is 46 in real life, playing 32, and he is an artistic basket case. He is handsome, charms women by the dozen, but runs from commitment and cannot even finish the play he is working on. He even refers to himself as a "Peter Pan", for whom a syndrome was named in the 1980s. This is maybe the first time that term was used in the context of an artist who cannot or will not "toe the line" and "grow up", get a real American job and "quit dreaming".
The thing with Gene Kelly is that he really does have talent, but he seems to be bi-polar and can't stop shooting himself in the foot. Once he meets beautiful Marjorie, a dozen years his junior, he falls hopelessly in love, and yet he cannot commit to her, he cheats on her, he drinks heavily.....and still she returns to him because he represents a life of artistic freedom, which she feels in her soul but which her conservative religious parents are against. They want her to marry a nice doctor or lawyer, the old cliche story. She is completely smitten with the brooding Kelly, though, and no matter how erratic his behavior, she always seems to be chasing him down, or vice versa. Meanwhile, she has other suitors, most notably a tall, nerdy playwright played by Martin Milner (of "Adam-12" fame), who has studied under Gene Kelly and who has not outperformed him. Milner's plays have been Broadway hits. Kelly is still floundering. Milner carries a torch for Marjorie, she does not reciprocate. She loves Gene Kelly no matter what, even though, in the words of one Broadway producer after an angry Kelly meltdown, "this guy is a screwball".
He clearly is one. So what will Marjorie do? Will she heed the advice of her parents and marry a nice stable professional man? Will she finally accept the clumsy advances of the nerdy but successful Milner, who could actually get her on Broadway? Or will she continue to hang in there with the continuing psychodrama that is her romance with Gene Kelly?
It's a hell of a story. Natalie Wood was destined for superstardom after this role and she carries the movie, playing against a slightly wooden yet often crazed Kelly. Martin Milner and Carolyn Jones in their supporting roles both show great acting range in difference from their TV characters, and many other less well known actors fill out an excellent cast. "Marjorie Morningstar" was the kind of Big Studio romance you'd have seen in the late 50s, when societal norms were beginning to be questioned.
It goes on a bit too long and could have benefited from a fifteen minute trimming, but overall it was a very fine picture, a romance that examines the psychological aspects of falling in love from a young woman's point of view, a nice young girl whose heart is untarnished by cynicism and who has her own dream of a life in the theater.
Two Big Thumbs Up, then, for "Marjorie Morningstar", despite the minor quibble of length. ////
This has certainly been a wonderful Christmas Season. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. Maybe next year we will spend it together. Whatcha think? xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I got home at about 6pm, totally beached, and was ready to take a short nap, or at least lie down and read one of my books for an hour or so, but then........
I looked in the fridge and saw that I was out of milk. If it was just me, I could go without milk for a day, or even longer. But the thing is that my coffee cannot go without milk. Not even for a single day. My days of being a black coffee drinker ended decades ago, and of course like you (referring to the General You here), I must have my coffee upon waking. It's not up for debate.
So, what to do? I didn't wanna get back in the car and drive anywhere. I was ready to go into a food coma. So I Googled the Christmas hours of our two most prominent local supermarkets - Ralphs and Vons - figuring they'd all be closed up......but Vons was open! Til 7pm. I had 45 minutes to score the all important milk. Strangely, probably because I am a bit nutty, I decided to walk down to Vons. It's not far, a little over a half mile from me, but the wind was blowing and it was chilly, and I was gonna be carrying a gallon of milk back to the pad. I am stubborn that way, however. I drive so much everyday, and in so much traffic with so many stoplights that I really hate driving if I don't have to. So even though I was a beached whale, I walked down to Vons, bought my gallon of milk and also a gallon of water, and carried one in each hand back home.
Man, what an achievement. Right? :)
But at least I will have milk for my coffee in the morning, and I won't have to use tap water to make it.
Remember the days when you could use tap water for everything? You probably still can, unless you live in Flint, but what the heck.
When I got back home, I did beach myself for the next 90 minutes, laying down to alternately nap and read my RFK book "Shadow Play". It contains no information I wasn't already aware of, but it's a good read anyway. I do a lot of JFK/RFK books and will have two more coming in the New Year. I think we've got JFK pretty much solved, but the Bobby Kennedy case is still a mystery.
By 9pm I had emerged from my coma and was ready for a movie, the romantic drama "Marjorie Morningstar" (1958), starring a now grown-up Natalie Wood (remember that we had just seen her as a child in "Miracle On 34th Street" a few nights ago). Here she is in the lead role as Marjorie Morgenstern, a nice Jewish girl from an upper-middle class New York family. She works as a summer camp counselor and also participates in a small theatrical company headed up by her witty and more worldly friend Carolyn Jones (who would go on to fame as "Morticia Addams"). When Jones suggests to Marjorie that they row a canoe across the summer camp's lake, to get to the resort on the other side, Marjorie jumps at the idea, because an "important" playwright works there at another slightly bigger theater. He is Gene Kelly, all muscular Irish dancing charm. He is 46 in real life, playing 32, and he is an artistic basket case. He is handsome, charms women by the dozen, but runs from commitment and cannot even finish the play he is working on. He even refers to himself as a "Peter Pan", for whom a syndrome was named in the 1980s. This is maybe the first time that term was used in the context of an artist who cannot or will not "toe the line" and "grow up", get a real American job and "quit dreaming".
The thing with Gene Kelly is that he really does have talent, but he seems to be bi-polar and can't stop shooting himself in the foot. Once he meets beautiful Marjorie, a dozen years his junior, he falls hopelessly in love, and yet he cannot commit to her, he cheats on her, he drinks heavily.....and still she returns to him because he represents a life of artistic freedom, which she feels in her soul but which her conservative religious parents are against. They want her to marry a nice doctor or lawyer, the old cliche story. She is completely smitten with the brooding Kelly, though, and no matter how erratic his behavior, she always seems to be chasing him down, or vice versa. Meanwhile, she has other suitors, most notably a tall, nerdy playwright played by Martin Milner (of "Adam-12" fame), who has studied under Gene Kelly and who has not outperformed him. Milner's plays have been Broadway hits. Kelly is still floundering. Milner carries a torch for Marjorie, she does not reciprocate. She loves Gene Kelly no matter what, even though, in the words of one Broadway producer after an angry Kelly meltdown, "this guy is a screwball".
He clearly is one. So what will Marjorie do? Will she heed the advice of her parents and marry a nice stable professional man? Will she finally accept the clumsy advances of the nerdy but successful Milner, who could actually get her on Broadway? Or will she continue to hang in there with the continuing psychodrama that is her romance with Gene Kelly?
It's a hell of a story. Natalie Wood was destined for superstardom after this role and she carries the movie, playing against a slightly wooden yet often crazed Kelly. Martin Milner and Carolyn Jones in their supporting roles both show great acting range in difference from their TV characters, and many other less well known actors fill out an excellent cast. "Marjorie Morningstar" was the kind of Big Studio romance you'd have seen in the late 50s, when societal norms were beginning to be questioned.
It goes on a bit too long and could have benefited from a fifteen minute trimming, but overall it was a very fine picture, a romance that examines the psychological aspects of falling in love from a young woman's point of view, a nice young girl whose heart is untarnished by cynicism and who has her own dream of a life in the theater.
Two Big Thumbs Up, then, for "Marjorie Morningstar", despite the minor quibble of length. ////
This has certainly been a wonderful Christmas Season. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have. Maybe next year we will spend it together. Whatcha think? xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Merry Christmas! + Singing With The Choir on Christmas Eve + Lourdes + Mass In B Minor
Merry Christmas! I hope you are having a blessed Christmas Eve. I just got back a little while ago from the 10:30pm Mass at Our Lady Of Lourdes, the Catholic church across the street from me. Lourdes was my Mom's church. I used to take her over there in the afternoons when I was living in her apartment. We would just sit in the empty chapel for twenty minutes or so. She also went to Mass every day for a while, and I spent a lot of time there, too, after Mom passed away. I am not officially Catholic, but I feel close to that parish and I always go to their Midnight Mass on December 24th. The service was beautiful and I always get goosebumps and on the verge of tears (in a good way) because I can feel both the Power Of Christ and Mom with me also (and Dad, too, even though he was not religious), and I can feel the presence of other loved ones as well. Though this presence is with me on a daily basis, I am especially transformed at the Christmas Eve services.
Earlier in the evening, at 6:30, I sang with the choir at my own church, the United Methodist Church of Reseda. I am not officially a member of Reseda Methodist, either, but as you know I've been in the choir for a little over four years and this was my fifth Christmas service with them. I became associated with the church and the choir because of Pearl, as you also know, and I love singing with those guys. I especially enjoy singing during the Holiday Season, and Christmas Eve is my favorite service of all, because of all the carols. We get to sing more on this night than during any other service of the year, and tonight went very well. I sang my lungs out and got even more goosebumps during the finale of "Silent Night". We had a good turnout in the congregation and there were a lot of folks at Lourdes, too, later in the evening.
I didn't go on a hike today, but I did manage to get in a couple of meditative CSUN walks. It is so nice to have an empty campus during the Winter Break, not to mention the substantial reduction in traffic when 40,000 students clear out of town for a few weeks.
I did not watch a movie tonight because of the dual church services, but I have been watching and listening to the Bach "Mass In B Minor" just prior to writing this blog. Even though it is not designated as a Christmas piece, I came to associate the Mass In B Minor with the Holiday because it turns out that the first section Bach wrote, called "Sanctus", was written specifically to be performed on Christmas Day 1724. The entire 100+ minute piece came together later, but it began as a short vocal work for Christmas. Listened to in full, it is not only one of the greatest choral works ever written, but one of the most profound pieces in the history of music, I think. Only Bach could've come up with it, of course.
Well, that's all for tonight. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and I also remind you to keep an eye up in the sky tonight, because..........well, you know. Santa Claus is coming to town.
You can also use the NORAD tracker at www.noradsanta.org
But don't wait too long, and don't forget to put out the milk and cookies. Watch your chimney, too.
See you in the morning under the Christmas Tree (and maybe under the mistletoe if I am lucky).
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Earlier in the evening, at 6:30, I sang with the choir at my own church, the United Methodist Church of Reseda. I am not officially a member of Reseda Methodist, either, but as you know I've been in the choir for a little over four years and this was my fifth Christmas service with them. I became associated with the church and the choir because of Pearl, as you also know, and I love singing with those guys. I especially enjoy singing during the Holiday Season, and Christmas Eve is my favorite service of all, because of all the carols. We get to sing more on this night than during any other service of the year, and tonight went very well. I sang my lungs out and got even more goosebumps during the finale of "Silent Night". We had a good turnout in the congregation and there were a lot of folks at Lourdes, too, later in the evening.
I didn't go on a hike today, but I did manage to get in a couple of meditative CSUN walks. It is so nice to have an empty campus during the Winter Break, not to mention the substantial reduction in traffic when 40,000 students clear out of town for a few weeks.
I did not watch a movie tonight because of the dual church services, but I have been watching and listening to the Bach "Mass In B Minor" just prior to writing this blog. Even though it is not designated as a Christmas piece, I came to associate the Mass In B Minor with the Holiday because it turns out that the first section Bach wrote, called "Sanctus", was written specifically to be performed on Christmas Day 1724. The entire 100+ minute piece came together later, but it began as a short vocal work for Christmas. Listened to in full, it is not only one of the greatest choral works ever written, but one of the most profound pieces in the history of music, I think. Only Bach could've come up with it, of course.
Well, that's all for tonight. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and I also remind you to keep an eye up in the sky tonight, because..........well, you know. Santa Claus is coming to town.
You can also use the NORAD tracker at www.noradsanta.org
But don't wait too long, and don't forget to put out the milk and cookies. Watch your chimney, too.
See you in the morning under the Christmas Tree (and maybe under the mistletoe if I am lucky).
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, December 24, 2018
"Holiday Inn" starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire + Good Singing This Morn + Santa Su
Tonight's Christmas Classic was "Holiday Inn" (1942), starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire as two thirds of a popular song and dance trio in New York. Both men are in love with third member Virginia Dale. At first, she has promised to marry Bing, who wants to retire and take her to live on a farm in Connecticut (hmmm, farms in Connecticut seem to be prevalent in our Christmas movies of late). But then Fred Astaire steps in with a few moves and sweet talks her, and soon they are dancing off to stardom as a duo, leaving Der Bingle out in the cold. He is miffed, and what's worse, he finds that life on his new farm isn't the leisurely experience he thought it would be. He's working ten times as hard as he was in show business.
Bing returns to New York with an idea. He wants to turn his farmhouse into an Inn. He visits his former manager and pitches the concept : it will be called the Holiday Inn and will only be open on Holidays, which adds up to about 15 days a year. He hopes to earn enough to stay in business, doesn't care about getting rich, just wants to have the leisure time he was expecting when he retired from show biz. Now he is back, but he only has to put on 15 shows per year. Nevertheless, each one will be spectacular, based on a theme of the Holiday it represents.
Bing's manager tentatively agrees with the idea. He is more of a New York guy, believes in the tried and true - make it big on the stage in NYC and then shoot for the movies in Hollywood. But Bing has been insistent, and he already owns his farm. Costs will be low, not much to lose if the idea is a flop.
Now all Bing needs is a new partner, and he finds her - through a series of serendipitous plot devices - in the person of Marjorie Reynolds, a plucky young dancer with every bit as much talent as had Virginia Dale. Soon Bing and Marjorie are partnered up romantically as well as professionally, and the Holiday Inn is a go. They are filling the Inn with deluxe productions beginning with Lincoln's Birthday, then Valentine's Day, then Washington's Birthday. As an aside, the musical production numbers in this movie are 100% Incredible, as is the dancing and the overall magic which is the most important ingredient. The "Abe Lincoln" number is a Hollywood Classic of the first order.
But back to the romantic aspect of the plot, which is really the main theme : now the Inn is a success, but all of a sudden Fred Astaire is back. He shows up on the doorstep, drunk and disheveled. It seems that Virginia Dale, a gold digger in the final analysis, has left him for a millionaire. Now he wants a job at the Holiday Inn with Bing, his former partner. Bing doesn't trust him, though, because Fred has already stolen one girl from him. What if he tries to steal Marjorie Reynolds, too?
That's all I will tell you of the romantic plot, but I should add that it is played lighthearted as the dance numbers come at you fast on their feet. "Holiday Inn" is all about the Holidays and the celebration involved. The music is all by Irving Berlin, if that gives you any indication. He not only wrote "White Christmas" but also "God Bless America". Top that.
"Holiday Inn" is not a through-and-through Christmas Movie ala last night's "Miracle On 34th Street", but it begins and ends with Christmas, and it contains the biggest selling Christmas song of all time, so just on those accounts it qualifies as one of the greatest of the Christmas Classics produced in the 1940s and early 50s. America needed feel-good sentimentality as it recovered from the war and these movies provided that feeling as we have been discussing.
You couldn't get bigger Thumbs Up than we are giving to "Holiday Inn". Ten Stars!
I'm sure you've seen it, but if you haven't, watch it on Netflix before Christmas is over. ///
We had good success with our Christmas anthems this morning in church. Nailed both "Christmas Lullaby" and "Gesu Bambino". Tomorrow evening we will sing "Gesu" again for the Christmas Eve service, along with "One Small Child" and a whole bunch of carols. If you happen to be in Reseda, stop in and give us a listen. The service begins at 6:30.
This afternoon I made it out to Santa Susana. Long time, no see! (one month). I was determined to try and get back into some kind of physical shape, so I hiked up to the top of the Devil's Slide. Not a huge deal for me, but still a good leg workout. Also did a full CSUN walk this evening, to bring the day's total to 6.5 miles.
Reading books and listening to KUSC. Don't forget to tune in to the station to hear King's College in Cambridge, England give their annual Christmas Eve reading of "Nine Lessons And Carols", their school tradition for nearly one hundred years. It's an early broadcast, at 7am pacific time, but if you happen to be awake that early, it's well worth hearing, and you might become hooked for the next one, as I was, and now I never miss it.
See you in the morning. Merry Christmas and much, much love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Bing returns to New York with an idea. He wants to turn his farmhouse into an Inn. He visits his former manager and pitches the concept : it will be called the Holiday Inn and will only be open on Holidays, which adds up to about 15 days a year. He hopes to earn enough to stay in business, doesn't care about getting rich, just wants to have the leisure time he was expecting when he retired from show biz. Now he is back, but he only has to put on 15 shows per year. Nevertheless, each one will be spectacular, based on a theme of the Holiday it represents.
Bing's manager tentatively agrees with the idea. He is more of a New York guy, believes in the tried and true - make it big on the stage in NYC and then shoot for the movies in Hollywood. But Bing has been insistent, and he already owns his farm. Costs will be low, not much to lose if the idea is a flop.
Now all Bing needs is a new partner, and he finds her - through a series of serendipitous plot devices - in the person of Marjorie Reynolds, a plucky young dancer with every bit as much talent as had Virginia Dale. Soon Bing and Marjorie are partnered up romantically as well as professionally, and the Holiday Inn is a go. They are filling the Inn with deluxe productions beginning with Lincoln's Birthday, then Valentine's Day, then Washington's Birthday. As an aside, the musical production numbers in this movie are 100% Incredible, as is the dancing and the overall magic which is the most important ingredient. The "Abe Lincoln" number is a Hollywood Classic of the first order.
But back to the romantic aspect of the plot, which is really the main theme : now the Inn is a success, but all of a sudden Fred Astaire is back. He shows up on the doorstep, drunk and disheveled. It seems that Virginia Dale, a gold digger in the final analysis, has left him for a millionaire. Now he wants a job at the Holiday Inn with Bing, his former partner. Bing doesn't trust him, though, because Fred has already stolen one girl from him. What if he tries to steal Marjorie Reynolds, too?
That's all I will tell you of the romantic plot, but I should add that it is played lighthearted as the dance numbers come at you fast on their feet. "Holiday Inn" is all about the Holidays and the celebration involved. The music is all by Irving Berlin, if that gives you any indication. He not only wrote "White Christmas" but also "God Bless America". Top that.
"Holiday Inn" is not a through-and-through Christmas Movie ala last night's "Miracle On 34th Street", but it begins and ends with Christmas, and it contains the biggest selling Christmas song of all time, so just on those accounts it qualifies as one of the greatest of the Christmas Classics produced in the 1940s and early 50s. America needed feel-good sentimentality as it recovered from the war and these movies provided that feeling as we have been discussing.
You couldn't get bigger Thumbs Up than we are giving to "Holiday Inn". Ten Stars!
I'm sure you've seen it, but if you haven't, watch it on Netflix before Christmas is over. ///
We had good success with our Christmas anthems this morning in church. Nailed both "Christmas Lullaby" and "Gesu Bambino". Tomorrow evening we will sing "Gesu" again for the Christmas Eve service, along with "One Small Child" and a whole bunch of carols. If you happen to be in Reseda, stop in and give us a listen. The service begins at 6:30.
This afternoon I made it out to Santa Susana. Long time, no see! (one month). I was determined to try and get back into some kind of physical shape, so I hiked up to the top of the Devil's Slide. Not a huge deal for me, but still a good leg workout. Also did a full CSUN walk this evening, to bring the day's total to 6.5 miles.
Reading books and listening to KUSC. Don't forget to tune in to the station to hear King's College in Cambridge, England give their annual Christmas Eve reading of "Nine Lessons And Carols", their school tradition for nearly one hundred years. It's an early broadcast, at 7am pacific time, but if you happen to be awake that early, it's well worth hearing, and you might become hooked for the next one, as I was, and now I never miss it.
See you in the morning. Merry Christmas and much, much love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, December 23, 2018
"Miracle On 34th Street"
Tonight I watched one of the best Christmas Classics of them all, "Miracle On 34th Street" (1947), starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, and little Natalie Wood in one of her first screen roles. You probably have seen the movie and know the story, but just in case you don't : Gwenn is "Kris Kringle". Yep, he swears that's his name. As the movie begins, he is walking down the street in Manhattan and happens upon the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's just about to begin. Gwenn can see that the man playing Santa is clearly inebriated. Outraged, he demands to speak with the Parade's organiser, who just so happens to be the stunning O'Hara. During the first few minutes of the film, Gwenn has been dropping subtle hints that he is the Real Santa Claus. Now, speaking to Maureen O'Hara, he asks that she fire the drunken Santa, as the man is an embarassment to Mr.Kringle's own reputation.
But who will she replace him with? The employment agency is fresh out of Santas at this time of year.
Why, Kris Kringle of course! With his jolly face, white hair and beard, and substantial tummy, he would be the perfect man to stand in for the fired Santa. But will he do it? Has he any experience?
That's what he's been trying to tell O'Hara, if she'd only listen : that he really IS Santa Claus.
She hires him on the spot for his looks, but doesn't believe any of his nonsense. She knows there is no Santa and has brought her little daughter Natalie Wood up in the same way, to disdain silly "fantasies" and to look at the world in a realistic way. Later, Gwenn/Kringle/Santa will meet little Natalie. She will at first tell him he's really only an old man with a white beard, but as he teaches her the power of imagination - something her mother has frowned upon - her world opens up. Soon she begins to believe that Mr. Kringle might really be who he says he is.
Meanwhile, Kringle was so popular as the Macy's Parade Santa, that Mr. Macy himself wanted him to be hired as the store's Santa Claus. Soon, kids are lined up yards deep in the toy section, waiting with their parents to meet Santa. In this way, "Miracle On 34th Street" is the ultimate Department Store Santa Christmas Movie that I've been writing about recently. Little children, at least from my era and probably going back to the turn of the century, all have memories of meeting Santa in the local Bullocks or Robinson's, or Macy's. Window shopping at Christmastime is a powerful memory, looking through frosted glass at carefully arranged train sets or doll houses.
As Mr. Kringle says, "Christmas is a frame of mind", though he makes a point to also say that, even by 1947, it's become overly commercialised. This theme is explored at the beginning of the movie, until Mr. Macy sees the light in choosing to share the wealth of shoppers with other city stores. If Macy's is out of a certain toy, the shopper is referred to a store that has it in stock. This is a helpful business practice that puts the customer first. Kringle as Santa suggested it to Mr. Macy, and now he is seen by the public as having a heart instead of being just a profits-oriented businessman.
Kris Kringle is taking over New York! The kids love him, parents love him, and Mr. Macy loves him because the parents now love Mr. Macy.
But there is one man who does not love Kris Kringle. That is the store "psychiatrist", a guy with a phony degree whose job is to evaluate potential employees as to their stability. This man, a total Humbug Nerd, has deemed Kringle "delusional" from the moment they met. Seeing Kringle's citywide popularity has driven the "store shrink" mad. Now he is on a mission to have Kringle committed to Bellvue........(the infamous psych hospital in NYC).
"The man thinks he is Santa Claus! Is he nuts"? The shrink is determined to prove it.
But Maureen O'Hara has come to love the old man. She has thawed, and she has a boyfriend (John Payne) who is a lawyer. He has been present throughout the movie, little Natalie adores him, and now he is gonna take the Kris Kringle case to court.
He is gonna prove, in front of a judge, that Kringle is indeed the Real Santa Claus. ////
Okay, this is me talking now. The review is over, but I've just gotta say, besides giving "Miracle on 34th Street" two Gigantic Thumbs Up, that you owe it to yourself to see this movie, even if you saw it last year, even if you've seen it a dozen times. Why? Because it captures the magic of Christmas from a child's point of view, and from Santa's! It takes you back to the Christmases you remember from your own childhood, and as the story unfolds you will find yourself back in that mindset and feeling that emotion of Christmas wonder that you too felt as a child. ////
That's all I know for tonight. I will see you in church in the morning. We will be singing two anthems, one being the aforementioned "Christmas Lullaby" by John Rutter, and the other is "Gesu Bambino".
Google David Archuleta's version of it with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
But who will she replace him with? The employment agency is fresh out of Santas at this time of year.
Why, Kris Kringle of course! With his jolly face, white hair and beard, and substantial tummy, he would be the perfect man to stand in for the fired Santa. But will he do it? Has he any experience?
That's what he's been trying to tell O'Hara, if she'd only listen : that he really IS Santa Claus.
She hires him on the spot for his looks, but doesn't believe any of his nonsense. She knows there is no Santa and has brought her little daughter Natalie Wood up in the same way, to disdain silly "fantasies" and to look at the world in a realistic way. Later, Gwenn/Kringle/Santa will meet little Natalie. She will at first tell him he's really only an old man with a white beard, but as he teaches her the power of imagination - something her mother has frowned upon - her world opens up. Soon she begins to believe that Mr. Kringle might really be who he says he is.
Meanwhile, Kringle was so popular as the Macy's Parade Santa, that Mr. Macy himself wanted him to be hired as the store's Santa Claus. Soon, kids are lined up yards deep in the toy section, waiting with their parents to meet Santa. In this way, "Miracle On 34th Street" is the ultimate Department Store Santa Christmas Movie that I've been writing about recently. Little children, at least from my era and probably going back to the turn of the century, all have memories of meeting Santa in the local Bullocks or Robinson's, or Macy's. Window shopping at Christmastime is a powerful memory, looking through frosted glass at carefully arranged train sets or doll houses.
As Mr. Kringle says, "Christmas is a frame of mind", though he makes a point to also say that, even by 1947, it's become overly commercialised. This theme is explored at the beginning of the movie, until Mr. Macy sees the light in choosing to share the wealth of shoppers with other city stores. If Macy's is out of a certain toy, the shopper is referred to a store that has it in stock. This is a helpful business practice that puts the customer first. Kringle as Santa suggested it to Mr. Macy, and now he is seen by the public as having a heart instead of being just a profits-oriented businessman.
Kris Kringle is taking over New York! The kids love him, parents love him, and Mr. Macy loves him because the parents now love Mr. Macy.
But there is one man who does not love Kris Kringle. That is the store "psychiatrist", a guy with a phony degree whose job is to evaluate potential employees as to their stability. This man, a total Humbug Nerd, has deemed Kringle "delusional" from the moment they met. Seeing Kringle's citywide popularity has driven the "store shrink" mad. Now he is on a mission to have Kringle committed to Bellvue........(the infamous psych hospital in NYC).
"The man thinks he is Santa Claus! Is he nuts"? The shrink is determined to prove it.
But Maureen O'Hara has come to love the old man. She has thawed, and she has a boyfriend (John Payne) who is a lawyer. He has been present throughout the movie, little Natalie adores him, and now he is gonna take the Kris Kringle case to court.
He is gonna prove, in front of a judge, that Kringle is indeed the Real Santa Claus. ////
Okay, this is me talking now. The review is over, but I've just gotta say, besides giving "Miracle on 34th Street" two Gigantic Thumbs Up, that you owe it to yourself to see this movie, even if you saw it last year, even if you've seen it a dozen times. Why? Because it captures the magic of Christmas from a child's point of view, and from Santa's! It takes you back to the Christmases you remember from your own childhood, and as the story unfolds you will find yourself back in that mindset and feeling that emotion of Christmas wonder that you too felt as a child. ////
That's all I know for tonight. I will see you in church in the morning. We will be singing two anthems, one being the aforementioned "Christmas Lullaby" by John Rutter, and the other is "Gesu Bambino".
Google David Archuleta's version of it with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Tharaud + Aliso + Solstice + Your Moon Sign + Loy & Powell in "Another Thin Man"
I am listening to Alexandre Tharaud play Bach's "Italian Concerto", which I heard part of earlier in the day on KUSC while driving to the store. I knew I had to Youtube it when I got home, and now I am listening again. I have mentioned before that I love Tharaud's playing, so smooth and clear and well articulated. It's like Liquid Piano. I prefer him over the nuclear-powered virtuosos like Yuja Wang, who play too fast and with too much bombast. Tharaud, by contrast, is an heir to the quieter spiritual pianism of someone like Wilhelm Kempff, who of course is, for me, one of the Holy Trinity of piano (the other two being Vladimir Sofronitsky and Dinu Lipatti). You can't go wrong with anything by Tharaud, especially his recordings of Couperin, Rameau and Scarlatti. ////
I managed to get up to Aliso Canyon today for a full length hike on the Winter Solstice. This was my first hike of any kind since my last period of days off in November. I didn't go on a single one all during my latest work cycle because of shorter days and increased time at Pearl's in the afternoon. It's a far cry from The Legendary Hiking Days Of Yore, in 2014-2016, when I was out on the trails about three times a week and sometimes more, but I will take what I can get, and looking back, I did do some of my most mega-hikes ever this year, including an almost 6 miler at Rocky Peak in June.
My favorite thing about the winter solstice is that the Sun will now be coming back the other way, giving us one more minute of light per day until June 21st, and you really start noticing the difference by mid-January, not only in the extra daylight but in the light quality from the heightened angle of the Sun. Something that is fun to do is to take notice of the position of the Sun in the sky from week to week. I take a lot of sunset pics over the Santa Susana mountains, and I like to watch the Sun's progress from north to south and then back again. It's also fun to watch the Moon night by night, but unless you really follow astronomy it's impossible (for me at least!) to predict where it will appear in the sky.
I do follow the astrological aspects of the Moon, however, so I know what sign it will be in on any given day. This helps you to understand what the vibe will be. Try it, it's very accurate. Over time you will notice how the days differ. Astrologically speaking, it is very important to read up on your Moon Sign and pay attention to it. Also your Mars, Mercury and Venus, i.e. your planets of action, communication and Eros. I have Aries in both Venus and Mercury, which makes me direct in those ways, but in Mars I have Pisces, which makes me very shy. I am double fire in my Sun (Aries) and my rising sign (Leo), but a lot of it gets shut down by the Pisces Mars. I'm an extrovert on the inside but an introvert to the world at large (well, sort of.....it's not that cut and dried). Anyway, do your own chart and discover all of your own planetary aspects. You can Google a free chart online, and when you see what your aspects are, it will help you to understand your own personality and feelings. Astrology is not everything as far as one's persona is concerned, but neither is it bunk. In fact, it is very useful. ////
Tonight I hung out with Powell and Loy for the third time, in "Another Thin Man"(1939). This one has to do with the murder of a wealthy industrialist who was a business partner to Nora's father. She is loaded by inheritence; Nick is a genius detective. He would rather drink martinis in hotel rooms, but she would rather be involved in intrigue (while dressed in satin gowns). Their dog Asta always seems to be one step ahead of either of them. He gets his own scenes in every Thin Man movie, and boy I would love to have a dog like him. He is super smart, yet as "doggie" as he can be.
The "Thin Man" movies are pure formula, but Loy and Powell provide the comic and romantic spark, and the suaveness, to make the plots percolate as they entangle and mess with the assorted mooks, molls and police detectives in the sorting out of the case at hand.
Myna Loy is perhaps the most stylish and sophisticated of the great 1930s comediennes, and William Powell is her ultimate foil. He is an unheralded great in my book. It is their show; he leads, she follows, and Asta always gets the last word (or bark). Two Thumbs Up for "Another Thin Man". I could watch a dozen of these movies and so could you.
That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I managed to get up to Aliso Canyon today for a full length hike on the Winter Solstice. This was my first hike of any kind since my last period of days off in November. I didn't go on a single one all during my latest work cycle because of shorter days and increased time at Pearl's in the afternoon. It's a far cry from The Legendary Hiking Days Of Yore, in 2014-2016, when I was out on the trails about three times a week and sometimes more, but I will take what I can get, and looking back, I did do some of my most mega-hikes ever this year, including an almost 6 miler at Rocky Peak in June.
My favorite thing about the winter solstice is that the Sun will now be coming back the other way, giving us one more minute of light per day until June 21st, and you really start noticing the difference by mid-January, not only in the extra daylight but in the light quality from the heightened angle of the Sun. Something that is fun to do is to take notice of the position of the Sun in the sky from week to week. I take a lot of sunset pics over the Santa Susana mountains, and I like to watch the Sun's progress from north to south and then back again. It's also fun to watch the Moon night by night, but unless you really follow astronomy it's impossible (for me at least!) to predict where it will appear in the sky.
I do follow the astrological aspects of the Moon, however, so I know what sign it will be in on any given day. This helps you to understand what the vibe will be. Try it, it's very accurate. Over time you will notice how the days differ. Astrologically speaking, it is very important to read up on your Moon Sign and pay attention to it. Also your Mars, Mercury and Venus, i.e. your planets of action, communication and Eros. I have Aries in both Venus and Mercury, which makes me direct in those ways, but in Mars I have Pisces, which makes me very shy. I am double fire in my Sun (Aries) and my rising sign (Leo), but a lot of it gets shut down by the Pisces Mars. I'm an extrovert on the inside but an introvert to the world at large (well, sort of.....it's not that cut and dried). Anyway, do your own chart and discover all of your own planetary aspects. You can Google a free chart online, and when you see what your aspects are, it will help you to understand your own personality and feelings. Astrology is not everything as far as one's persona is concerned, but neither is it bunk. In fact, it is very useful. ////
Tonight I hung out with Powell and Loy for the third time, in "Another Thin Man"(1939). This one has to do with the murder of a wealthy industrialist who was a business partner to Nora's father. She is loaded by inheritence; Nick is a genius detective. He would rather drink martinis in hotel rooms, but she would rather be involved in intrigue (while dressed in satin gowns). Their dog Asta always seems to be one step ahead of either of them. He gets his own scenes in every Thin Man movie, and boy I would love to have a dog like him. He is super smart, yet as "doggie" as he can be.
The "Thin Man" movies are pure formula, but Loy and Powell provide the comic and romantic spark, and the suaveness, to make the plots percolate as they entangle and mess with the assorted mooks, molls and police detectives in the sorting out of the case at hand.
Myna Loy is perhaps the most stylish and sophisticated of the great 1930s comediennes, and William Powell is her ultimate foil. He is an unheralded great in my book. It is their show; he leads, she follows, and Asta always gets the last word (or bark). Two Thumbs Up for "Another Thin Man". I could watch a dozen of these movies and so could you.
That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, December 21, 2018
Elizabeth + Christmas Music + "Christmas In Connecticut"
Elizabeth, just in case you still read this blog, I wanted to say that I saw the post on your Instagram about your new dance film. Do I have that right, that you are starting a new one? If so, that's fantastic news! I'm always rooting for you, you know, so please post anymore news as it develops, whether on Facebook or Instagram, and I will make a point of checking Instagram more often, though I don't have an account there myself. I also saw your most recent post, the picture of you facing the water with the giant rock in the background. Is that a Red Dress photo? It's spectacular in any case, and the poem you wrote to go with it is exceptional, very beautiful. I know I always say things like "keep shooting"!, "keep playing"!, etc., and of course I have also said "keep writing"! with regard to your music, but now I'll have to amend that phrase to include your words as well. So, keep writing, Elizabeth, both words and music.
And keep doing everything else too. ;)
Always remember that your art is what you really do. Your job is just for paying the bills, and your big break is coming. ////
I am writing from home tonight, off work until Dec. 27th, a full week. I can't imagine I'll do much, because I have a lot of music to study for the regular Sunday morning service in a couple of days, and also for the Christmas Eve service the following night. On Sunday, one of the pieces we'll be singing is John Rutter's "Christmas Lullaby", one of the most difficult tenor songs I've sung in my time with the choir. The lines are all in the upper tenor range, with a lot of jumps, all in legato style, meaning smooth singing. So you can't belt the vocal, yet it has to be intense but also very smooth, and it's way up at the top of my range.
I've sung it before and did an okay job, but this time I am gonna nail it, which means practicing in the car tomorrow and Saturday (hey, where else can I practice?), and also drinking a lot of water with lemon juice. I also have three other anthems to learn for the two services, but they are easier. We will probably be singing a lot of carols, too, and those are my favorite of all. This is my fifth Christmas with the choir and I hope it will be our best yet. :)
Tonight I did watch a movie, the perennial classic "Christmas In Connecticut" (1945), starring Northridge's own Barbara Stanwyck, and handsome Dennis Morgan. The story is pure hijinx, from start to finish. Morgan is a sailor in the Navy. During WW2, his ship is torpedoed, and he spends 18 days on a life raft before being rescued. In the hospital back in the States, he flirts with his nurse to get better food. She falls in love with him and elicits a proposal of marriage, though his heart isn't in it. All he really wanted was some good chow.
The nurse is a reader of a popular magazine, ala Good Housekeeping. Her favorite column, widely read all across America, is written by Barbara Stanwyck, a well-to-do lady who lives on a farm in Connecticut. She is sort of like a Martha Stewart, but younger. She can cook like crazy, can attend to the farm animals, can dress up, decorate, you get the picture. And she is married with an infant child. She is The Modern Woman who can Do It All, and her column is selling tons of subscriptions for Sydney Greenstreet's magazine. So, what happens is that Dennis Morgan's nurse writes a letter to the publisher (Greenstreet), suggesting a feelgood story for Christmas: How about if Miss Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) would agree to host a soldier, a WW2 hero recovering from his ordeal, at her farm for Christmas? Wouldn't that make a great story?
Publisher Greenstreet reads the proposal and agrees that it would indeed make for an inspirational Christmas column in his magazine.
So he contacts Stanwyck, whom he has never met, through her agent. Will she agree to host the recovering soldier at her farm for Christmas?
Oh boy, is she ever in a jam now. Because, you see, she is a complete fraud. She doesn't live on a farm in Connecticut, but in a New York City tenement. She isn't married, has no baby, and can't even cook! She gets all of the recipes for her column from a local restaurateur down the block. She is a talented creative writer who has completely made up a lifestyle and, with the help of her agent, sold this fictitious personalty to her publisher. And she has gone on to become famous.
Now what is she to do? Her publisher insists that the hosting of the soldier must take place. But she doesn't live on a farm........but wait! Hollywood to the rescue! (which is one thing I love about Hollywood, it always comes to the rescue). Stanwyck just so happens to know a gentleman who does indeed own a farm in Connecticut. He is a man who has been proposing to her, but for whom she has no feelings. Still, could his farm be used to host the soldier for the piece in the magazine? Could they pretend to be married while this is going on? Could they borrow a neighbor's baby to complete the illusion?
You'll have to watch for yourself to find out. The best thing about "Christmas In Connecticut", besides the non-stop Screwball and the great cast, is the art direction and the way they get That East Coast 1940s Wintry Christmas Feeling just right. There are legendary scenes filmed in the snow (and probably on a sound stage), with Stanwyck and Morgan riding in a horse-pulled sleigh at night, that are really mythological in the Hollywood scheme of things, as far as portraying the magic of the Christmas season. Watch for yourself and see.
I give "Christmas In Connecticut" Two Huge and Timeless Thumbs Up. You may have seen it already, and if you have you know it's a Holiday Classic. ////
That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. Much love until then. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
And keep doing everything else too. ;)
Always remember that your art is what you really do. Your job is just for paying the bills, and your big break is coming. ////
I am writing from home tonight, off work until Dec. 27th, a full week. I can't imagine I'll do much, because I have a lot of music to study for the regular Sunday morning service in a couple of days, and also for the Christmas Eve service the following night. On Sunday, one of the pieces we'll be singing is John Rutter's "Christmas Lullaby", one of the most difficult tenor songs I've sung in my time with the choir. The lines are all in the upper tenor range, with a lot of jumps, all in legato style, meaning smooth singing. So you can't belt the vocal, yet it has to be intense but also very smooth, and it's way up at the top of my range.
I've sung it before and did an okay job, but this time I am gonna nail it, which means practicing in the car tomorrow and Saturday (hey, where else can I practice?), and also drinking a lot of water with lemon juice. I also have three other anthems to learn for the two services, but they are easier. We will probably be singing a lot of carols, too, and those are my favorite of all. This is my fifth Christmas with the choir and I hope it will be our best yet. :)
Tonight I did watch a movie, the perennial classic "Christmas In Connecticut" (1945), starring Northridge's own Barbara Stanwyck, and handsome Dennis Morgan. The story is pure hijinx, from start to finish. Morgan is a sailor in the Navy. During WW2, his ship is torpedoed, and he spends 18 days on a life raft before being rescued. In the hospital back in the States, he flirts with his nurse to get better food. She falls in love with him and elicits a proposal of marriage, though his heart isn't in it. All he really wanted was some good chow.
The nurse is a reader of a popular magazine, ala Good Housekeeping. Her favorite column, widely read all across America, is written by Barbara Stanwyck, a well-to-do lady who lives on a farm in Connecticut. She is sort of like a Martha Stewart, but younger. She can cook like crazy, can attend to the farm animals, can dress up, decorate, you get the picture. And she is married with an infant child. She is The Modern Woman who can Do It All, and her column is selling tons of subscriptions for Sydney Greenstreet's magazine. So, what happens is that Dennis Morgan's nurse writes a letter to the publisher (Greenstreet), suggesting a feelgood story for Christmas: How about if Miss Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) would agree to host a soldier, a WW2 hero recovering from his ordeal, at her farm for Christmas? Wouldn't that make a great story?
Publisher Greenstreet reads the proposal and agrees that it would indeed make for an inspirational Christmas column in his magazine.
So he contacts Stanwyck, whom he has never met, through her agent. Will she agree to host the recovering soldier at her farm for Christmas?
Oh boy, is she ever in a jam now. Because, you see, she is a complete fraud. She doesn't live on a farm in Connecticut, but in a New York City tenement. She isn't married, has no baby, and can't even cook! She gets all of the recipes for her column from a local restaurateur down the block. She is a talented creative writer who has completely made up a lifestyle and, with the help of her agent, sold this fictitious personalty to her publisher. And she has gone on to become famous.
Now what is she to do? Her publisher insists that the hosting of the soldier must take place. But she doesn't live on a farm........but wait! Hollywood to the rescue! (which is one thing I love about Hollywood, it always comes to the rescue). Stanwyck just so happens to know a gentleman who does indeed own a farm in Connecticut. He is a man who has been proposing to her, but for whom she has no feelings. Still, could his farm be used to host the soldier for the piece in the magazine? Could they pretend to be married while this is going on? Could they borrow a neighbor's baby to complete the illusion?
You'll have to watch for yourself to find out. The best thing about "Christmas In Connecticut", besides the non-stop Screwball and the great cast, is the art direction and the way they get That East Coast 1940s Wintry Christmas Feeling just right. There are legendary scenes filmed in the snow (and probably on a sound stage), with Stanwyck and Morgan riding in a horse-pulled sleigh at night, that are really mythological in the Hollywood scheme of things, as far as portraying the magic of the Christmas season. Watch for yourself and see.
I give "Christmas In Connecticut" Two Huge and Timeless Thumbs Up. You may have seen it already, and if you have you know it's a Holiday Classic. ////
That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. Much love until then. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, December 20, 2018
"The Corn Is Green", starring Bette Davis & John Dall
Last night Grimsley came over, hence no blog because no movie. One cool thing did happen yesterday that's worth reporting, however. I received in the mail the new triple-cd by Bill Nelson, called "Auditoria". The album features 46 tracks (holy smokes!) that Bill recorded throughout 2018. He released "Auditoria" to coincide with a live concert marking his 70th birthday. Bill Nelson has a niche market, and so he only has 500 cds of his albums manufactured. That way, they are guaranteed to sell out, and latecomer fans can thereafter order a digital download. I am one of those fans who wants to have a disc, so I always make sure and order right away when Bill releases new material, so I can obtain a cd before they sell out. I did so with the triple album "Auditoria" and was lucky to get one, because they had already been on sale at the Bill Nelson 70th Birthday Concert. The morning he put the remaining cds onsale on his website, there were only a couple hundred left, and they sold out very quickly. Many fans in England were disappointed not to have scored one.
I lucked out, therefore, and lo and behold, my copy of "Auditoria" arrived in my mailbox yesterday, December 18th, which was Bill Nelson's birthday. And not only that, but to my surprise, when I opened the mailer, I saw that the album had been signed by Bill himself. So that was pretty doggone cool and worth reporting, I think, that I got a rare copy of Bill Nelson's new triple album commemorating his 70th birthday on his 70th birthday, and he had signed it as well.
The shabularity meter registers as "negligible" in this case, as I'm sure you will agree.
Tonight I did watch a movie, an old fashioned classic called "The Corn Is Green" (1945), starring Bette Davis and a young actor named John Dall, who would go on to obtain cult status for his role in the noir classic "Gun Crazy" from 1950, which had a chase scene filmed right here in Reseda on Sherman Way. So it really is a small world after all. I discovered this movie through a Bette Davis library search, and when I checked it out I was surprised to see Dall in the cast, because I had only ever seen him play Bad Guys (he was a psycho in Hitchcock's "Rope"). Here he has to go toe-to-toe with Davis in one of the greatest roles of her career, and he did well enough to earn himself an Oscar nomination for his performance.
The movie takes place in Wales in 1895, so right away you know you are in for a sentimental, heavily-accented ride. Bette Davis is a highly motivated teacher, a graduate of Oxford. She is newly arrived in this provincial Welsh mining town. She has money (the source never specified) that she has used to buy a local rooming house which she intends to turn into a school for the children who work in the coal mines. Here you have another brutal aspect of childhood life in England in the 19th century, kids toiling in mines. The town landowner, known as "Squire", doesn't want Davis to open her school. He fears that if the mineworker youth become literate, they will have the means to escape their class-established employment. But Davis is headstrong and does establish her school. To her first group of students, their faces still black from the mines, she issues an introductory exam, the tried-and true "what did you do on your vacation" that we all remember from our own schooldays.
Most of her students are fumbling for grammar. They lack the skills to express themselves and can barely spell. But one young man stands out. He is older than the other boys, and while his spelling needs work too, he clearly knows not only how to use words, but to write an essay that exceeds what teacher Bette Davis was expecting from her unwashed, uneducated students.
She then singles out Dall and begins to tutor him daily. He advances quickly, learns Greek and Latin, and soon Bette Davis is proposing him for a scholarship to her alma mater, Oxford.
What you have as your main theme is a "Pygmalion" story in a Welsh setting. But then other subthemes come into play, the main one having to do with a local girl who is very sure of herself and very resentful of Davis. This role is played by an actress named Joan Lorring. She was also nominated for an Oscar for her performance, and though she, like John Dall, did not go on to have a major career, she nevertheless creates a character, that is lifelike - of the young, poor, oversexualised seductress who uses the only thing she has going for her in an effort to keep John Dall in his place, in the coal mine. Lorring's character is what you would call a trollope. She not only resents the intelligent and assured Davis, who as Dall's teacher has control over his future, but she secretly envies both of them. She uses her sexuality as a taunt against the repressed and somewhat cold Davis, and tries to pull John Dall away from her.
But he is proving to be too exceptional a student, and the testing period for his Oxford scholarship looms.
The point of the movie, adapted from a book by Welsh author Emlyn Williams, is to depict the effort to lift the illiterate villagers out of their pre-determined station in life. We have seen in the works of Charles Dickens that class and station pretty much set limits on what a person could aspire to in England at that time.
But then, at the start of the 20th century, things began to change.
"The Corn Is Green" is a tremendous acting movie. You've gotta have some big time chops to match scenes with Bette Davis at the height of her powers, and the newcomers Dall and Lorring step up as her equals in this movie. That both of them were nominated for best supporting Oscars proves the point, and in my opinion each should've won.
It's a fantastic movie. You've gotta be in a Welsh mood to watch it, and for myself I suppose I am never far off from that state of mind (even though I have no Welsh in me that I am aware of). But still, I'll betcha I could sing all of those coal miner songs no problem.
I give "The Corn Is Green" two Gigantic Thumbs Up. You've gotta have a sentimental streak to like it, and you've gotta be an Anglophile, but if you are, you will enjoy one of the great acting movies of the era, with a well rounded cast in support. ////
That's all I know for tonight. Starting tomorrow, I will be writing from home for a few days, off work until the day after Christmas. We will talk a little more about the KK Downing book, and from here on in we should be reviewing mostly Christmas movies. I have some classics waiting at The Libe.
I hope you are enjoying The Season, and I will see you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I lucked out, therefore, and lo and behold, my copy of "Auditoria" arrived in my mailbox yesterday, December 18th, which was Bill Nelson's birthday. And not only that, but to my surprise, when I opened the mailer, I saw that the album had been signed by Bill himself. So that was pretty doggone cool and worth reporting, I think, that I got a rare copy of Bill Nelson's new triple album commemorating his 70th birthday on his 70th birthday, and he had signed it as well.
The shabularity meter registers as "negligible" in this case, as I'm sure you will agree.
Tonight I did watch a movie, an old fashioned classic called "The Corn Is Green" (1945), starring Bette Davis and a young actor named John Dall, who would go on to obtain cult status for his role in the noir classic "Gun Crazy" from 1950, which had a chase scene filmed right here in Reseda on Sherman Way. So it really is a small world after all. I discovered this movie through a Bette Davis library search, and when I checked it out I was surprised to see Dall in the cast, because I had only ever seen him play Bad Guys (he was a psycho in Hitchcock's "Rope"). Here he has to go toe-to-toe with Davis in one of the greatest roles of her career, and he did well enough to earn himself an Oscar nomination for his performance.
The movie takes place in Wales in 1895, so right away you know you are in for a sentimental, heavily-accented ride. Bette Davis is a highly motivated teacher, a graduate of Oxford. She is newly arrived in this provincial Welsh mining town. She has money (the source never specified) that she has used to buy a local rooming house which she intends to turn into a school for the children who work in the coal mines. Here you have another brutal aspect of childhood life in England in the 19th century, kids toiling in mines. The town landowner, known as "Squire", doesn't want Davis to open her school. He fears that if the mineworker youth become literate, they will have the means to escape their class-established employment. But Davis is headstrong and does establish her school. To her first group of students, their faces still black from the mines, she issues an introductory exam, the tried-and true "what did you do on your vacation" that we all remember from our own schooldays.
Most of her students are fumbling for grammar. They lack the skills to express themselves and can barely spell. But one young man stands out. He is older than the other boys, and while his spelling needs work too, he clearly knows not only how to use words, but to write an essay that exceeds what teacher Bette Davis was expecting from her unwashed, uneducated students.
She then singles out Dall and begins to tutor him daily. He advances quickly, learns Greek and Latin, and soon Bette Davis is proposing him for a scholarship to her alma mater, Oxford.
What you have as your main theme is a "Pygmalion" story in a Welsh setting. But then other subthemes come into play, the main one having to do with a local girl who is very sure of herself and very resentful of Davis. This role is played by an actress named Joan Lorring. She was also nominated for an Oscar for her performance, and though she, like John Dall, did not go on to have a major career, she nevertheless creates a character, that is lifelike - of the young, poor, oversexualised seductress who uses the only thing she has going for her in an effort to keep John Dall in his place, in the coal mine. Lorring's character is what you would call a trollope. She not only resents the intelligent and assured Davis, who as Dall's teacher has control over his future, but she secretly envies both of them. She uses her sexuality as a taunt against the repressed and somewhat cold Davis, and tries to pull John Dall away from her.
But he is proving to be too exceptional a student, and the testing period for his Oxford scholarship looms.
The point of the movie, adapted from a book by Welsh author Emlyn Williams, is to depict the effort to lift the illiterate villagers out of their pre-determined station in life. We have seen in the works of Charles Dickens that class and station pretty much set limits on what a person could aspire to in England at that time.
But then, at the start of the 20th century, things began to change.
"The Corn Is Green" is a tremendous acting movie. You've gotta have some big time chops to match scenes with Bette Davis at the height of her powers, and the newcomers Dall and Lorring step up as her equals in this movie. That both of them were nominated for best supporting Oscars proves the point, and in my opinion each should've won.
It's a fantastic movie. You've gotta be in a Welsh mood to watch it, and for myself I suppose I am never far off from that state of mind (even though I have no Welsh in me that I am aware of). But still, I'll betcha I could sing all of those coal miner songs no problem.
I give "The Corn Is Green" two Gigantic Thumbs Up. You've gotta have a sentimental streak to like it, and you've gotta be an Anglophile, but if you are, you will enjoy one of the great acting movies of the era, with a well rounded cast in support. ////
That's all I know for tonight. Starting tomorrow, I will be writing from home for a few days, off work until the day after Christmas. We will talk a little more about the KK Downing book, and from here on in we should be reviewing mostly Christmas movies. I have some classics waiting at The Libe.
I hope you are enjoying The Season, and I will see you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
"After The Thin Man" + James Comey for President
I reported back for Motion Picture Duty tonight, after being on leave for a week to watch the "Dickensian" tv series, and was assigned, by myself of course, to the first of the "Thin Man" sequels : "After The Thin Man", made in 1936. Whereas the 1934 original was more hard-boiled, about a half-and-half mixture of screwball comedy and noir crime film, the sequel is more focused on the screwball aspect, starting off with a fifteen minute run of gags involving main characters Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) and the stuffy Society Types they encounter at a New Year's Eve Party. Asta the Dog gets significant screen time, including recurring scenes with "Mrs. Asta" and her puppies who live out back in a doghouse, and the attempts of a suitor - a black Terrier - to tunnel under the fence to rendezvous with her. Asta discovers his treachery and not only chases him off but blocks his tunnel as well. The first hour is a non-stop hoot with the crime plot only beginning to develop. Once it does, though, Nick and Nora put on their detective hats to solve a murder, as the police also step in to play hardball with their suspects. The last fifty minutes is all about the mystery, the crime and whodunit.
I give "After The Thin Man" an even bigger Two Thumbs Up than I did for the original, because it seems like they perfected the formula for this one, by giving more screen time to the screwy but sophisticated antics of Nick and Nora Charles. There could not have been a better actor to portray Nick Charles than William Powell, whose every onscreen move is perfection. Myrna Loy matches him thrust for parry in the repartee department, while dressed to the nines in shoulderless satin gowns.
A collection of mooks, relatives and elderly society patrons make up the supporting cast, which includes a 28 year old Jimmy Stewart.......whose name you were given instructions as to how to pronounce in blogs of yore. (Okay, I'll refresh your memory : the correct pronunciation is "JiMmeyy SchTewartt").
Well anyhow.
Did you hear James Comey on the news today? You might've if you watch MSNBC. The former FBI director stood up to the freakin' plate, and stated the case for what is now happening in America as directly as it can be stated. He said plain as day that the Republican Trump supporters in the Senate need to find some courage somewhere inside themselves in order to stand up for what is right in America. In order to stand up for America itself.
Imagine this; that we have a major league Criminal in the White House, a mobster whose financial empire has been built on underworld ties, and who colluded with Russian criminals to steal the Presidency of The United States of America, and that we have overwhelming evidence to support all of this, even before the full Mueller report comes in, but that we also have Republicans in the House and Senate who continue to say that it's no big deal, or that it's fake news, and that we have Democrats who still say that we shouldn't consider impeachment.
We are gonna lose our country if we don't get rid of these cowards.
James Comey for President!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):) see you in the morning
I give "After The Thin Man" an even bigger Two Thumbs Up than I did for the original, because it seems like they perfected the formula for this one, by giving more screen time to the screwy but sophisticated antics of Nick and Nora Charles. There could not have been a better actor to portray Nick Charles than William Powell, whose every onscreen move is perfection. Myrna Loy matches him thrust for parry in the repartee department, while dressed to the nines in shoulderless satin gowns.
A collection of mooks, relatives and elderly society patrons make up the supporting cast, which includes a 28 year old Jimmy Stewart.......whose name you were given instructions as to how to pronounce in blogs of yore. (Okay, I'll refresh your memory : the correct pronunciation is "JiMmeyy SchTewartt").
Well anyhow.
Did you hear James Comey on the news today? You might've if you watch MSNBC. The former FBI director stood up to the freakin' plate, and stated the case for what is now happening in America as directly as it can be stated. He said plain as day that the Republican Trump supporters in the Senate need to find some courage somewhere inside themselves in order to stand up for what is right in America. In order to stand up for America itself.
Imagine this; that we have a major league Criminal in the White House, a mobster whose financial empire has been built on underworld ties, and who colluded with Russian criminals to steal the Presidency of The United States of America, and that we have overwhelming evidence to support all of this, even before the full Mueller report comes in, but that we also have Republicans in the House and Senate who continue to say that it's no big deal, or that it's fake news, and that we have Democrats who still say that we shouldn't consider impeachment.
We are gonna lose our country if we don't get rid of these cowards.
James Comey for President!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):) see you in the morning
Monday, December 17, 2018
I Finished "Dickensian" + Sports & Singing
Tonight I finished the 10 hour, 20 episode "Dickensian" with a final 4-ep binge-watch. It was an eminently enjoyable series, for the most part, with flawless acting from dozens of characters, dead-on Victorian production design, and a tightly controlled script that, combined with a fast paced direction, allowed for multiple story threads to be interwoven. By constantly changing from thread to thread, minute by minute, the threads felt all of a piece, as if all the Dickens characters' lives had intersected.
And this was what "Dickensian" was all about. I looked for reviews on IMDB, some viewers loved it, others less so (for differing reasons), but overall it got a 7.5/10 score, and almost every reviewer mentioned it's addictive quality as I found out for myself. Once you start watching, you can't stop.
If I had stopped (for some reason which would make no sense) at around Episode 15, let's say, I would have given "Dickensian" a 10/10 review, Two Mega Thumbs Up. But in the last four or five episodes, the series seemed to take a darker and more cynical turn. I know that we are dealing with horrible conditions in London at the time, and class issues, and issues involving unwed mothers, not to mention how orphan children were treated, and Charles Dickens wrote about all of these things and more in his books. I have never read the books, but in the BBC adaptations I have seen, even in his tales that do not have happy endings that resolve every issue, there seemed to be a heart of compassion at the center of every story. That was Dickens' message in a nutshell, understanding and compassion.
And that message is present in "Dickensian" as well. It's just that the message does definitely not apply to all the characters, nor is there cumuppence for certain characters who deserve it, and who the writers lead you to believe will falter in their deceptive machinations. I'm not sure Charles Dickens would have ended the story as these writers did, had he made a "Dickensian" mashup himself.
Still, because of the high quality of the show, and for the great writing up until the end, and for great direction all the way through, I'll give it an 8/10, and two big thumbs up. A big thumbs down for how two of the major story threads ended, however. These endings were a mite too cynical for me. /////
Tomorrow I will resume watching movies, with possibly a Christmas classic or two in the mix for next week. I wish I had other stuff to write about, but it's hard for me to even get out on a hike anymore, except for my days off. I miss Elizabeth's posts and photos too. I used to write this blog mostly to her, and I miss those days, but it seems she has abandoned Facebook....... :(
I don't like to write about politics unless it looks like Trump is about to be impeached.
And I don't really follow sports anymore, except that I do follow sports, but I know that my teams are never gonna win championships and so why get all worked up over nothing.
The Rams have lost two in a row now, to seemingly inferior teams, especially tonight at home at the Colosseum to the Eagles, and I am thinking that, despite their 6-0 start and their 11-1 record two weeks ago, that they really aren't as good as we thought they were. They will probably be "one-and-done" in the playoffs as they were last year.
Ahhh, sports. An addictive diversion. Glad I have trained myself not to pay as much attention.
I am three quarters of the way through KK Downing's autobiography, which is quite a story overall, but which kind of turns into a recitation of same-sounding events during the recordings of Judas Priest albums in the 1980s.
We had really good singing in church this morning, with two new members in the women's soprano/alto section, bringing the total to nine in the front row, a regular wall of sound. In the back row, we have the same three men we've had since I started in November 2014, but all three of us can belt it, and we provide a contrast to the many voices of the women, good singers all themselves. I am looking forward to next week, when we will be doing two anthems on Sunday and then two more the next evening on Monday, Christmas Eve. No doubt we will get to sing a few carols as well. Christmas is probably my favorite time of the year to sing with the choir, because the music has even more feeling than usual.
Whomever reads this, I hope you had a nice day and I will see you in the morning. xoxoxoxo :):)
And this was what "Dickensian" was all about. I looked for reviews on IMDB, some viewers loved it, others less so (for differing reasons), but overall it got a 7.5/10 score, and almost every reviewer mentioned it's addictive quality as I found out for myself. Once you start watching, you can't stop.
If I had stopped (for some reason which would make no sense) at around Episode 15, let's say, I would have given "Dickensian" a 10/10 review, Two Mega Thumbs Up. But in the last four or five episodes, the series seemed to take a darker and more cynical turn. I know that we are dealing with horrible conditions in London at the time, and class issues, and issues involving unwed mothers, not to mention how orphan children were treated, and Charles Dickens wrote about all of these things and more in his books. I have never read the books, but in the BBC adaptations I have seen, even in his tales that do not have happy endings that resolve every issue, there seemed to be a heart of compassion at the center of every story. That was Dickens' message in a nutshell, understanding and compassion.
And that message is present in "Dickensian" as well. It's just that the message does definitely not apply to all the characters, nor is there cumuppence for certain characters who deserve it, and who the writers lead you to believe will falter in their deceptive machinations. I'm not sure Charles Dickens would have ended the story as these writers did, had he made a "Dickensian" mashup himself.
Still, because of the high quality of the show, and for the great writing up until the end, and for great direction all the way through, I'll give it an 8/10, and two big thumbs up. A big thumbs down for how two of the major story threads ended, however. These endings were a mite too cynical for me. /////
Tomorrow I will resume watching movies, with possibly a Christmas classic or two in the mix for next week. I wish I had other stuff to write about, but it's hard for me to even get out on a hike anymore, except for my days off. I miss Elizabeth's posts and photos too. I used to write this blog mostly to her, and I miss those days, but it seems she has abandoned Facebook....... :(
I don't like to write about politics unless it looks like Trump is about to be impeached.
And I don't really follow sports anymore, except that I do follow sports, but I know that my teams are never gonna win championships and so why get all worked up over nothing.
The Rams have lost two in a row now, to seemingly inferior teams, especially tonight at home at the Colosseum to the Eagles, and I am thinking that, despite their 6-0 start and their 11-1 record two weeks ago, that they really aren't as good as we thought they were. They will probably be "one-and-done" in the playoffs as they were last year.
Ahhh, sports. An addictive diversion. Glad I have trained myself not to pay as much attention.
I am three quarters of the way through KK Downing's autobiography, which is quite a story overall, but which kind of turns into a recitation of same-sounding events during the recordings of Judas Priest albums in the 1980s.
We had really good singing in church this morning, with two new members in the women's soprano/alto section, bringing the total to nine in the front row, a regular wall of sound. In the back row, we have the same three men we've had since I started in November 2014, but all three of us can belt it, and we provide a contrast to the many voices of the women, good singers all themselves. I am looking forward to next week, when we will be doing two anthems on Sunday and then two more the next evening on Monday, Christmas Eve. No doubt we will get to sing a few carols as well. Christmas is probably my favorite time of the year to sing with the choir, because the music has even more feeling than usual.
Whomever reads this, I hope you had a nice day and I will see you in the morning. xoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, December 16, 2018
1989 + Dorothy Kilgallen, American Hero
I'm still binge-ing my way through "Dickensian", four episodes last night, three tonight, which was why there was no blog yesterday. I haven't much to offer today either, I'm afraid, but I didn't wanna miss two nights in a row.......cause you might forget about me, or change the channel or some such.
Next year I've gotta get my mojo back and start writing about stuff that really matters. I have been loathe to do so, because whenever I start to really pour my heart out and write my opinions on things, I always later second-guess myself : "ah, maybe I shouldn't have said that. I really don't feel that way. Wait a minute; yes I do"!
But I have this thing in my past, which nowdays I simply call "1989" for short (of course the book title will always be "What Happened In Northridge", which is both a question and a statement). 2019 will mark the 30th anniversary of What Happened, and it seems to me that the subject must be tackled once again. The absolute, locked-down silence in all this time has been harder to deal with than the events themselves. They lasted two weeks. The silence has lasted thirty years, half my life.
It is very hard to deal with because I am closing in on 60, and I worry, "what if I never find out what happened to me, and more importantly, why"? I have written before that I am afraid it might affect my soul if I were to be on my deathbed one day and still not know, and all just because people made iron clad decisions not to tell me.
Well, anyway, I didn't mean this blog to be a downer, but one day everyone is gonna have to face the facts, because the truth always comes out, even if people take their secrets to the grave.
Secrets are poison, but some people have an amazing capacity to keep secrets and to go about their lives as if everything is just fine. Such a mindset borders on the sociopathic, but I'll stop there for now.
In short, I haven't written about these subjects because I don't want to be dark. I am a seeker of the light, of truth and answers and enlightenment. But I have to deal every day of my life with the fact that there are people who know what happened to me, and why it happened, and these people have basically disowned ever knowing me. They have not only remained silent for thirty years, knowing that I have been begging for answers, but they have distanced themselves from me to the extent that you'd think we never even met.
Well, I'll shut up for now, but I think in 2019 we should re-examine some of these things. My other fear is one of conscience : "what if I am 100 years old and still don't know what happened, or why, but I didn't try hard enough to find out"? Didn't write enough letters, didn't ask enough questions, etc.
So I at least have to try, at some point. I tried very hard from 2006-2009, but the brick wall of silence remained intact. Maybe next time we can chisel one brick away, just for a peek at the truth.
I guess I am writing all of this tonight because I have just finished the Dorothy Kilgallen book by Mark Shaw, called "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much". As described a few blogs ago, she was the very first newsperson to call BS on the phoney Oswald Lone Shooter "verdict" handed down by the legendary fascist J.Edgar Hoover. She doggedly pursued leads for the next two years that led her to New Orleans, and to the doorstep of low life Mafia scum Carlos Marcello, who almost without doubt had a hand in the JFK assassination (directed by LBJ and Hoover).
She was a courageous woman to do what she did. She didn't have to do it, she was also a television celebrity and an entertainment columnist with lots of money and millions of followers, but crime reporting was her reason for being. She was the first to point out that JFK was killed by a conspiracy. She was relentless in trying to track down the truth so she could expose the assassination cabal, and she did all of this because - more than money, or fame, or just going with the flow - the truth mattered to her, especially where the murder of the President was concerned.
She was the first to point out the conspiracy, and she stayed with it because the truth mattered to her. She was very wealthy and didn't have to do this, but she did, and it got her killed.
So Dorothy Kilgallen is very inspiring to me because she stood up to lowlife criminals. We have a criminal President who thinks he's a big shot. Russia has one too. Mafia bosses think they are big shots too. But really, all of these people are not much of anything. They are just destructors.
The people I know who have kept silent about 1989 for thirty years have done so because many of them were involved with criminals, and they are scared, even at this late date. There are other issues, too, for sure, like all of the CIA National Security stuff I have written about in my blogs about the FOIA efforts I have made.
I'm not satisfied with the responses I've gotten from the CIA, but I trust them, because I believe they are, for the most part, patriotic Americans of the highest honor.
But I don't trust secret keepers or criminals, and I don't want to wait another thirty years to find out what happened to me, which as you know would make your head spin if it happened to you.
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Next year I've gotta get my mojo back and start writing about stuff that really matters. I have been loathe to do so, because whenever I start to really pour my heart out and write my opinions on things, I always later second-guess myself : "ah, maybe I shouldn't have said that. I really don't feel that way. Wait a minute; yes I do"!
But I have this thing in my past, which nowdays I simply call "1989" for short (of course the book title will always be "What Happened In Northridge", which is both a question and a statement). 2019 will mark the 30th anniversary of What Happened, and it seems to me that the subject must be tackled once again. The absolute, locked-down silence in all this time has been harder to deal with than the events themselves. They lasted two weeks. The silence has lasted thirty years, half my life.
It is very hard to deal with because I am closing in on 60, and I worry, "what if I never find out what happened to me, and more importantly, why"? I have written before that I am afraid it might affect my soul if I were to be on my deathbed one day and still not know, and all just because people made iron clad decisions not to tell me.
Well, anyway, I didn't mean this blog to be a downer, but one day everyone is gonna have to face the facts, because the truth always comes out, even if people take their secrets to the grave.
Secrets are poison, but some people have an amazing capacity to keep secrets and to go about their lives as if everything is just fine. Such a mindset borders on the sociopathic, but I'll stop there for now.
In short, I haven't written about these subjects because I don't want to be dark. I am a seeker of the light, of truth and answers and enlightenment. But I have to deal every day of my life with the fact that there are people who know what happened to me, and why it happened, and these people have basically disowned ever knowing me. They have not only remained silent for thirty years, knowing that I have been begging for answers, but they have distanced themselves from me to the extent that you'd think we never even met.
Well, I'll shut up for now, but I think in 2019 we should re-examine some of these things. My other fear is one of conscience : "what if I am 100 years old and still don't know what happened, or why, but I didn't try hard enough to find out"? Didn't write enough letters, didn't ask enough questions, etc.
So I at least have to try, at some point. I tried very hard from 2006-2009, but the brick wall of silence remained intact. Maybe next time we can chisel one brick away, just for a peek at the truth.
I guess I am writing all of this tonight because I have just finished the Dorothy Kilgallen book by Mark Shaw, called "The Reporter Who Knew Too Much". As described a few blogs ago, she was the very first newsperson to call BS on the phoney Oswald Lone Shooter "verdict" handed down by the legendary fascist J.Edgar Hoover. She doggedly pursued leads for the next two years that led her to New Orleans, and to the doorstep of low life Mafia scum Carlos Marcello, who almost without doubt had a hand in the JFK assassination (directed by LBJ and Hoover).
She was a courageous woman to do what she did. She didn't have to do it, she was also a television celebrity and an entertainment columnist with lots of money and millions of followers, but crime reporting was her reason for being. She was the first to point out that JFK was killed by a conspiracy. She was relentless in trying to track down the truth so she could expose the assassination cabal, and she did all of this because - more than money, or fame, or just going with the flow - the truth mattered to her, especially where the murder of the President was concerned.
She was the first to point out the conspiracy, and she stayed with it because the truth mattered to her. She was very wealthy and didn't have to do this, but she did, and it got her killed.
So Dorothy Kilgallen is very inspiring to me because she stood up to lowlife criminals. We have a criminal President who thinks he's a big shot. Russia has one too. Mafia bosses think they are big shots too. But really, all of these people are not much of anything. They are just destructors.
The people I know who have kept silent about 1989 for thirty years have done so because many of them were involved with criminals, and they are scared, even at this late date. There are other issues, too, for sure, like all of the CIA National Security stuff I have written about in my blogs about the FOIA efforts I have made.
I'm not satisfied with the responses I've gotten from the CIA, but I trust them, because I believe they are, for the most part, patriotic Americans of the highest honor.
But I don't trust secret keepers or criminals, and I don't want to wait another thirty years to find out what happened to me, which as you know would make your head spin if it happened to you.
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, December 14, 2018
More "Dickensian" + Paul McCartney
The plan to watch a movie tonight was called off on account of Charles Dickens. I am thoroughly hooked on "Dickensian", binge watched four more episodes this evening, and plan to finish it off straight through. I have completed ten of the twenty episodes and I will watch the second ten over the course of the next three nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Then I will commence with more movies after that. The characters in this saga are too compelling to set aside, especially "Detective Bucket", played by Stephen Rea, and the sociopathic, Iago-like "Mr. Compeyson", played by a young actor named Tom Weston-Jones. These two seem to be steering the story, but we are only halfway through and surely anything can happen with such a large cast involved, each character with his or her own motivations and the intertwining relationships that are weaving them all together. It's a great show, and you've got to love some of the names Mr. Dickens came up with, like "Mr. Bumble" and "Mrs. Biggetywitch". English folks really did have some funny and unusual surnames in those days, so perhaps the names of the characters are only a slight exaggeration.
Today I bought a ticket to see Paul McCartney at Dodger Stadium next July. I was torn about going, because as you know I am so tired of attending concerts by myself, and I've probably been to close to 1000 concerts in my life, and as much as I love going, there are a lot of things I don't love anymore, like the traffic and the parking, and of course the demands of my job that factor in. Also, I haven't been to a stadium concert since the '90s (Pink Floyd at the Rose Bowl, the greatest concert of all time), and while this will not be a big festival general admission type of deal, it will still involve a huge traffic jam of 50,000 people. I was thinking, "you don't have to go".......
But I do almost everything on intuition these days. And my inner voice was saying, "but it's Paul McCartney. He will be 77 years old when he takes the stage, and who knows how many more tours he will do"?
The main factor was that The Beatles were the first major non-parental influence on my life. I was three and a half years old when they hit American radio with "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". My sister Vickie became an instant Beatlemaniac, and one of my earliest memories is playing her copy of "Meet The Beatles" over and over again on her little plastic record player. If you are my age, you remember the type of player I am talking about, a box-like apparatus that opened up to display a turntable and an arm with needle, a very sharp and heavy one at that! I was just a very small boy, with a little brother about to be born (Chris came along just a month after Beatlemania began), and one of the first things I ever accomplished in my life was to learn how to put a record onto a turntable and then to put the needle down.
And I was compelled to learn this, because The Beatles sound was like magic. A kid who is three and a half is not analyzing anything. He is not wondering if the band is "cool". He is only going by his kiddie urges, and that's what I was doing with my sister's copy of "Meet The Beatles", and her plastic turntable with speaker built in.
I could go on and on about those memories, so powerful are they, and that experience started me on the course of my life - or one course, anyway - which was the pursuit of music. The Beatles did that, and while John Lennon was my first Favorite Beatle (and you had to have a favorite back then), I was also just about split on John with Paul McCartney, who had a whole different style.
I was just a kid, and a small one at that, but The Beatles were the first gigantic influence on my life, besides my parents and family.
And I guess you could say that a Beatles concert was almost the first one I ever attended, because in August 1966, I rode in the car as my Dad and Mom drove my sisters to the same Dodger Stadium to see John, Paul, George and Ringo play one of their very last live shows there. It was the second to last concert they ever played, not counting the impromptu rooftop gig in 1969.
So once upon a time I got close to a Beatles concert, to the parking lot of Dodger Stadium fifty two years ago. Who would have imagined that Paul McCartney would be coming back there to play, fifty-three years later as of next Summer?
Fifty three years later. So that was why I had to buy a ticket, despite my growing dislike of going everywhere by myself and my general abhorrence of traffic and giant stadium shows.
I had to see Paul McCartney, who I have never seen before. To see him will be a first, and will take me full circle, from being three and a half and playing "Meet The Beatles" on the plastic turntable, to becoming a huge music fan and attending 1000 concerts in the 53 year interim, to finally having the chance to see A Beatle live, and Paul McCartney at that, the most celebrated songwriter of all time.
I wish I wasn't going alone, but I'm glad I'm going. My concert career will have come full circle.
That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Today I bought a ticket to see Paul McCartney at Dodger Stadium next July. I was torn about going, because as you know I am so tired of attending concerts by myself, and I've probably been to close to 1000 concerts in my life, and as much as I love going, there are a lot of things I don't love anymore, like the traffic and the parking, and of course the demands of my job that factor in. Also, I haven't been to a stadium concert since the '90s (Pink Floyd at the Rose Bowl, the greatest concert of all time), and while this will not be a big festival general admission type of deal, it will still involve a huge traffic jam of 50,000 people. I was thinking, "you don't have to go".......
But I do almost everything on intuition these days. And my inner voice was saying, "but it's Paul McCartney. He will be 77 years old when he takes the stage, and who knows how many more tours he will do"?
The main factor was that The Beatles were the first major non-parental influence on my life. I was three and a half years old when they hit American radio with "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". My sister Vickie became an instant Beatlemaniac, and one of my earliest memories is playing her copy of "Meet The Beatles" over and over again on her little plastic record player. If you are my age, you remember the type of player I am talking about, a box-like apparatus that opened up to display a turntable and an arm with needle, a very sharp and heavy one at that! I was just a very small boy, with a little brother about to be born (Chris came along just a month after Beatlemania began), and one of the first things I ever accomplished in my life was to learn how to put a record onto a turntable and then to put the needle down.
And I was compelled to learn this, because The Beatles sound was like magic. A kid who is three and a half is not analyzing anything. He is not wondering if the band is "cool". He is only going by his kiddie urges, and that's what I was doing with my sister's copy of "Meet The Beatles", and her plastic turntable with speaker built in.
I could go on and on about those memories, so powerful are they, and that experience started me on the course of my life - or one course, anyway - which was the pursuit of music. The Beatles did that, and while John Lennon was my first Favorite Beatle (and you had to have a favorite back then), I was also just about split on John with Paul McCartney, who had a whole different style.
I was just a kid, and a small one at that, but The Beatles were the first gigantic influence on my life, besides my parents and family.
And I guess you could say that a Beatles concert was almost the first one I ever attended, because in August 1966, I rode in the car as my Dad and Mom drove my sisters to the same Dodger Stadium to see John, Paul, George and Ringo play one of their very last live shows there. It was the second to last concert they ever played, not counting the impromptu rooftop gig in 1969.
So once upon a time I got close to a Beatles concert, to the parking lot of Dodger Stadium fifty two years ago. Who would have imagined that Paul McCartney would be coming back there to play, fifty-three years later as of next Summer?
Fifty three years later. So that was why I had to buy a ticket, despite my growing dislike of going everywhere by myself and my general abhorrence of traffic and giant stadium shows.
I had to see Paul McCartney, who I have never seen before. To see him will be a first, and will take me full circle, from being three and a half and playing "Meet The Beatles" on the plastic turntable, to becoming a huge music fan and attending 1000 concerts in the 53 year interim, to finally having the chance to see A Beatle live, and Paul McCartney at that, the most celebrated songwriter of all time.
I wish I wasn't going alone, but I'm glad I'm going. My concert career will have come full circle.
That's all I know for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, December 13, 2018
"Dickensian" is Binge Worthy + K.K. Downing + We Don't Have To Live This Way Anymore
Okay, so I'm officially hooked on "Dickensian". Binge watched four episodes tonight (30 minutes each). The writers have skillfully woven together all of the various threads in Dickens novels, and have turned the whole thing into a murder mystery. I am super tempted to tell you the names of the victim and the main suspect, because it's really a bit of a hoot (though depicted in a serious manner), but I just cannot give out these spoilers because they come as such a surprise (one especially!). Don't Google it, either. Watch the series instead. I am now six episodes in with fourteen to go, and I eagerly await whatever will be cooked up next in this stewpot of great characters and stories. If Victorian London was really as Dickens described it, and if it's citizens were really this eccentric, then one wishes for a Time Machine to afford a visit there. It appears to be a very quaint and picturesque hellhole, halfway between blessed and cursed, but with great personalities at every turn.
Less than 100 years later these same people would change the world with incredible music.
The English are something else. If it's not Scrooge, it's Jack the Ripper or Mary Poppins and if it ain't them it's John Lennon and Elton John. Or William Shakespeare.
Or Charles Dickens. Tomorrow night I will take a short break from "Dickensian" in order to watch a movie, but I will resume and binge-watch another four eps on Friday evening. If you like anything having to do with Dickens, I think you will love this show as much as I do, and thus it is highly recommended. ///
This afternoon I finally checked out from the Libe K.K. Downing's book "Heavy Duty : Days and Nights in Judas Priest". I had reserved it back at the beginning of October, so it was a long and highly anticipated wait. Much speculation has been offered as to why he quit the band in 2011, and reviews have suggested that K.K. is quite blunt in his assessment, so we shall see what he reveals. I started reading the book tonight, just prior to writing this blog, and the first few chapters deal with his incredibly rough childhood. I think that many of us have experienced psychological trauma from living in dysfunctional homes as children, and I also think that each child in such a situation feels so isolated the he or she feels that they come from the only abnormal family in the world.
A child of dysfunction thinks that all the other kids must have normal homes, and that only his is weird and hard to deal with. But as you go along in life, you discover that the idea of a perfect "Brady Bunch" family is the real illusion, and that many, many kids grow up in very difficult domestic situations. Reading about K.K. Downing's childhood causes a person like myself to realise that, as tough as my own childhood sometimes was, that there were kids who had it a lot worse.
He lays it all out for you, bare and honest, with this same rough-hewn English backdrop I've been talking about. Man, these people were poor following WW2. Many folks didn't even have indoor toilets, but instead outhouses. Families lived in homes without heat - row houses, where you could hear your neighbors through the walls. It all sounds pretty horrible, which makes you appreciate the English resilience even more.
As Tiny Tim said, "God Bless Us, Everyone", and I think we should all send that message out into the world loud and clear.
CSUN was shut down tonight because some disturbed person had scrawled a threat of violence on a bathroom wall, and then another person followed it up with a handwritten note the next day. Those things you can Google if you want to. I won't elaborate on them except to say that I took my walk off-campus tonight, on the side streets surrounding the school. Since yesterday there have been police cars around every corner.
We need to think of solutions so that we don't have to live this way anymore. Me, I think we are living in a time of too many electronics. Young people walk around with devices in their hands and are detached from the world. Too many electrons are flowing and it's like the Matrix, with everyone plugged into everyone else's brain. We also have way too many cars on the road, and too many people in cities, when there is land abundant all across the country.
But really the problem is too many electrons, too much media, and not enough real meaning in society.
Life has to mean something. There has to be something to strive for besides just another iPhone.
I think people like Steve Jobs did a tremendous disservice to humanity.
Look back at the world of Victorian England, and how difficult a situation that was, and then consider that the same country had their backs against the wall, fighting Nazi Germany in WW2. And then they came out of it all by infusing the entire world with some of the greatest music ever created, music being a force on par with love.
America needs to come out of it's dark period now as well. We need to regroup and to shine a light out into the world, as we have done in the past, so that we don't have to live this way anymore.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Less than 100 years later these same people would change the world with incredible music.
The English are something else. If it's not Scrooge, it's Jack the Ripper or Mary Poppins and if it ain't them it's John Lennon and Elton John. Or William Shakespeare.
Or Charles Dickens. Tomorrow night I will take a short break from "Dickensian" in order to watch a movie, but I will resume and binge-watch another four eps on Friday evening. If you like anything having to do with Dickens, I think you will love this show as much as I do, and thus it is highly recommended. ///
This afternoon I finally checked out from the Libe K.K. Downing's book "Heavy Duty : Days and Nights in Judas Priest". I had reserved it back at the beginning of October, so it was a long and highly anticipated wait. Much speculation has been offered as to why he quit the band in 2011, and reviews have suggested that K.K. is quite blunt in his assessment, so we shall see what he reveals. I started reading the book tonight, just prior to writing this blog, and the first few chapters deal with his incredibly rough childhood. I think that many of us have experienced psychological trauma from living in dysfunctional homes as children, and I also think that each child in such a situation feels so isolated the he or she feels that they come from the only abnormal family in the world.
A child of dysfunction thinks that all the other kids must have normal homes, and that only his is weird and hard to deal with. But as you go along in life, you discover that the idea of a perfect "Brady Bunch" family is the real illusion, and that many, many kids grow up in very difficult domestic situations. Reading about K.K. Downing's childhood causes a person like myself to realise that, as tough as my own childhood sometimes was, that there were kids who had it a lot worse.
He lays it all out for you, bare and honest, with this same rough-hewn English backdrop I've been talking about. Man, these people were poor following WW2. Many folks didn't even have indoor toilets, but instead outhouses. Families lived in homes without heat - row houses, where you could hear your neighbors through the walls. It all sounds pretty horrible, which makes you appreciate the English resilience even more.
As Tiny Tim said, "God Bless Us, Everyone", and I think we should all send that message out into the world loud and clear.
CSUN was shut down tonight because some disturbed person had scrawled a threat of violence on a bathroom wall, and then another person followed it up with a handwritten note the next day. Those things you can Google if you want to. I won't elaborate on them except to say that I took my walk off-campus tonight, on the side streets surrounding the school. Since yesterday there have been police cars around every corner.
We need to think of solutions so that we don't have to live this way anymore. Me, I think we are living in a time of too many electronics. Young people walk around with devices in their hands and are detached from the world. Too many electrons are flowing and it's like the Matrix, with everyone plugged into everyone else's brain. We also have way too many cars on the road, and too many people in cities, when there is land abundant all across the country.
But really the problem is too many electrons, too much media, and not enough real meaning in society.
Life has to mean something. There has to be something to strive for besides just another iPhone.
I think people like Steve Jobs did a tremendous disservice to humanity.
Look back at the world of Victorian England, and how difficult a situation that was, and then consider that the same country had their backs against the wall, fighting Nazi Germany in WW2. And then they came out of it all by infusing the entire world with some of the greatest music ever created, music being a force on par with love.
America needs to come out of it's dark period now as well. We need to regroup and to shine a light out into the world, as we have done in the past, so that we don't have to live this way anymore.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
"Dickensian" + Dorothy Kilgallen + Trump Should Be In Prison
No movie again tonight. My holds at the Libe are taking forever to arrive, but I did watch the first two episodes of a BBC series called "Dickensian". You may remember way back at the beginning of this year, when I first acquired the 3-dvd set of this ten hour miniseries, I tried to watch it then, in January, but I gave up after just one episode because, for me, anything involving Dickens must be watched at Christmastime. Christmas was a month past and the feeling just wasn't there, so I shelved "Dickensian" but kept it on the back burner for the next Christmas in 2018, now just two weeks away.
So far, just two episodes in (out of 20 total, each ep being 30 minutes long), the show looks to be a lot of fun, and will meet and exceed all of our established criteria for proper Christmas viewing under the Charles Dickens subheading. What it is, is a Dickens mashup. The writers and producers of "Dickensian" have taken all of the author's most famous stories and characters, and turned them all into a collective. Sounds sacrilegious, I know - you see Jacob Marley walking into The Old Curiosity Shop to collect a debt whist Fagin from "Oliver Twist" arranges a "date" for him later in the evening. The two sisters from "Bleak House" are living in the same section of London, feuding over family finances, while Scrooge walks the streets on Christmas Eve, headed for a bowl of slop at the local pub after harassing Bob Cratchit into submission. Humbug, indeed.
So you've got all of these "Dickensian" characters inhabiting the same neighborhood and interacting with one another, sometimes directly, sometimes only in passing. I wasn't sure if I was gonna like it, and the acting - while BBC Superb as always - is a tad more modern in style than is that of the traditional Dickens productions from the Beeb, so it's not quite Classic Dickens......but still, the production design recreates Victorian London to a tee and the whole thing begins on Christmas Eve, so right there all of our requirements are met.
"Dickensian" is a combined take on all of the stories with a small dose of modern acting punch. I won't be reviewing it episode by episode, but I will try to watch the entire series by Christmas and I imagine it will warrant two very big Thumbs Up when all is said and done.
I am about almost halfway through a book about the death of Dorothy Kilgallen, the famed newspaper columnist of the 1950s and 60s, who also doubled as a TV star on the game show "What's My Line". Her main talent, though, was for investigative reporting. She developed a reputation as a top crime writer, and she had an ability to sense corruption at some of the famous trials she attended, such as the Dr. Sam Sheppard murder case. After JFK was assassinated, she was one of the first reporters to question the "official" verdict of Lee Harvey Oswald being the lone gunman, and she was undoubtedly the most prominent reporter who would not let the subject drop. Kilgallen had a sharp, lawyer like mind, and she published column after column questioning the FBI's lack of interest in a real investigation into the assassination. She went after the CIA, too, and she was especially hard on the Mafia, excoriating all of these organisations as to their probable involvement in not only Kennedy's assassination, but Oswalds' as well. She was especially interested in the case of Jack Ruby, and was the only reporter to ever get an interview with him. She was determined to get to the truth of the assassination, but in November 1965, it cost her her life.
She was poisoned with a triple barbiturate overdose of Seconal, Tuinal and Nembutal, and of course her murder was called a suicide, a bunch of baloney of course.
The story of Dorothy Kilgallen's death is not household news, but it is gaining traction in the Kennedy Assassination encyclopedia. So many people were "bumped off" in the aftermath of the assassination, in order to keep them silent, but Dorothy Kilgallen was one of the first to go, because she was so brash and relentless.
She was in search of the truth about the cold-blooded murder of a United States President. The truth mattered to her. I did not know a lot about her life prior to reading this book, but now I think she is an American Hero, and someone that the press would do well to emulate in the age of Trump.
We now know that this man was in cahoots with a foreign adversary to steal the presidency of the United States of America. This is the kind of crime that used to be called Treason, and in the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who sold nuclear secrets to Russia, it got them executed.
I am not saying Trump deserves that penalty, but he sure as hell should be indicted and sent to prison.
And here we have the Democrats not even unanimous on mere impeachment.
Nancy Pelosi's performance in the Oval Office today notwithstanding, the Democrats need to grow a pair and kick this bastard out of office and put him in prison.
He has committed the types of espianoge crimes that people were once executed for.
He stole the American Presidency, with direct help from the adversarial Russian govenment, headed up by arch criminal Putin.
Hey, what are we waiting for? Impeachment? That's nothing, and the Democrats aren't even in agreement on that prospect.
Trump should be indicted, and as soon as possible. He belongs in prison because, hey folks!....
He tried to overthrow the democratic voting process of America.
This is something, if you had tried it in the 1950s and been caught, especially with Russian help, that you would have been executed for.
No joke.
So Trump needs to be not merely impeached, but put in prison. Hey Democrats, let's step up to the plate, eh? Because this is not funny anymore, and it hasn't been from Day One.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
So far, just two episodes in (out of 20 total, each ep being 30 minutes long), the show looks to be a lot of fun, and will meet and exceed all of our established criteria for proper Christmas viewing under the Charles Dickens subheading. What it is, is a Dickens mashup. The writers and producers of "Dickensian" have taken all of the author's most famous stories and characters, and turned them all into a collective. Sounds sacrilegious, I know - you see Jacob Marley walking into The Old Curiosity Shop to collect a debt whist Fagin from "Oliver Twist" arranges a "date" for him later in the evening. The two sisters from "Bleak House" are living in the same section of London, feuding over family finances, while Scrooge walks the streets on Christmas Eve, headed for a bowl of slop at the local pub after harassing Bob Cratchit into submission. Humbug, indeed.
So you've got all of these "Dickensian" characters inhabiting the same neighborhood and interacting with one another, sometimes directly, sometimes only in passing. I wasn't sure if I was gonna like it, and the acting - while BBC Superb as always - is a tad more modern in style than is that of the traditional Dickens productions from the Beeb, so it's not quite Classic Dickens......but still, the production design recreates Victorian London to a tee and the whole thing begins on Christmas Eve, so right there all of our requirements are met.
"Dickensian" is a combined take on all of the stories with a small dose of modern acting punch. I won't be reviewing it episode by episode, but I will try to watch the entire series by Christmas and I imagine it will warrant two very big Thumbs Up when all is said and done.
I am about almost halfway through a book about the death of Dorothy Kilgallen, the famed newspaper columnist of the 1950s and 60s, who also doubled as a TV star on the game show "What's My Line". Her main talent, though, was for investigative reporting. She developed a reputation as a top crime writer, and she had an ability to sense corruption at some of the famous trials she attended, such as the Dr. Sam Sheppard murder case. After JFK was assassinated, she was one of the first reporters to question the "official" verdict of Lee Harvey Oswald being the lone gunman, and she was undoubtedly the most prominent reporter who would not let the subject drop. Kilgallen had a sharp, lawyer like mind, and she published column after column questioning the FBI's lack of interest in a real investigation into the assassination. She went after the CIA, too, and she was especially hard on the Mafia, excoriating all of these organisations as to their probable involvement in not only Kennedy's assassination, but Oswalds' as well. She was especially interested in the case of Jack Ruby, and was the only reporter to ever get an interview with him. She was determined to get to the truth of the assassination, but in November 1965, it cost her her life.
She was poisoned with a triple barbiturate overdose of Seconal, Tuinal and Nembutal, and of course her murder was called a suicide, a bunch of baloney of course.
The story of Dorothy Kilgallen's death is not household news, but it is gaining traction in the Kennedy Assassination encyclopedia. So many people were "bumped off" in the aftermath of the assassination, in order to keep them silent, but Dorothy Kilgallen was one of the first to go, because she was so brash and relentless.
She was in search of the truth about the cold-blooded murder of a United States President. The truth mattered to her. I did not know a lot about her life prior to reading this book, but now I think she is an American Hero, and someone that the press would do well to emulate in the age of Trump.
We now know that this man was in cahoots with a foreign adversary to steal the presidency of the United States of America. This is the kind of crime that used to be called Treason, and in the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who sold nuclear secrets to Russia, it got them executed.
I am not saying Trump deserves that penalty, but he sure as hell should be indicted and sent to prison.
And here we have the Democrats not even unanimous on mere impeachment.
Nancy Pelosi's performance in the Oval Office today notwithstanding, the Democrats need to grow a pair and kick this bastard out of office and put him in prison.
He has committed the types of espianoge crimes that people were once executed for.
He stole the American Presidency, with direct help from the adversarial Russian govenment, headed up by arch criminal Putin.
Hey, what are we waiting for? Impeachment? That's nothing, and the Democrats aren't even in agreement on that prospect.
Trump should be indicted, and as soon as possible. He belongs in prison because, hey folks!....
He tried to overthrow the democratic voting process of America.
This is something, if you had tried it in the 1950s and been caught, especially with Russian help, that you would have been executed for.
No joke.
So Trump needs to be not merely impeached, but put in prison. Hey Democrats, let's step up to the plate, eh? Because this is not funny anymore, and it hasn't been from Day One.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Michael Harvey's "Pulse" + Tremblay & Steven King + Cremo and The Truth About The Human Spirit
No movie tonight, but I thought I'd try to write anyway. I just now finished reading Michael Harvey's "Pulse", a crime novel with a quantum twist, as in quantum mechanics. Harvey was another author recommended by Stephen King. I was so impressed with the books of Paul Tremblay, an earlier King recommendation, that I reserved "Pulse" by Harvey without giving it a second thought.
I'm not a big reader of fiction (except for SK), but every now and then I find a writer I like. Tremblay was the discovery of the year, and probably the decade. I read all three of his modern horror novels in rapid succession and could not put any of them down, just kept turning the pages, I was very impressed by his ability to make his stories come alive, and also by his originality. Paul Tremblay is The Man as far as new horror writers go. Stephen King didn't steer us wrong.
Michael Harvey is really good as well. He is definitely a "page turner" kind of writer, who knows how to keep you jumping along with his plot twists. As the fiction books I do read are normally from the horror genre (and very few at that), it is even rarer for me to read a crime novel, but "Pulse" was so good that I just ordered from the Libe Harvey's "Brighton", which Stephen King also raved about.
King fans know that SK grew up on John D. McDonald's hard-boiled detective novels. McDonald was one of his favorite writers as a youth, and I think he has tried to emulate him somewhat with his own stab at the crime genre, with his "Mr. Mercedes" trilogy. I enjoyed those King books, which were very popular and have been made into a TV series, but I prefer his horror.
My own recommendation would be to get ahold of the Tremblay books as fast as you can, and start pounding them, but only if you are not squeamish. And as for Michael Harvey, give him a chance also. His writing can be a bit mystical and flowery, he is a Boston Irishman after all - and his stories are set in Beantown - but he too has an original twist to his plots. I was enjoying "Pulse" very much, but near the end my appreciation went from respectful to "he knocked it out of the park". This is because he is able to understand the supernatural aspects of thought, and how thought and perception interact on a quantum level where time and memory are stationed.
This is why Harvey's writing can be a bit vague and soaked in Irish Mist, because he is tuned in to the Spirit World. In "Pulse" he tries to interpret his main character's mind reading ability from a police detective's point of view, but the inner life of the protagonist predominates. We see what he sees as he searches the inner spaces of other people's consciousness to try and solve his brother's murder.
So there are a couple of writers for you, Paul Tremblay and Michael Harvey.
I also recently finished Michael Cremo's "Human Devolution". Cremo, you may recall from my writings earlier in 2018, also wrote the megawork "Forbidden Archaeology", a book that I feel should be in every classroom in America. "Human Devolution" continues Cremo's mission to explore and explain human history and to pose the question of what is a human being in the first place?
This got my attention toward Cremo, because I have wondered the same thing for a very long time.
"What is a Human Being"?
As he points out, the majority of scientists say that we are only elements of matter and that we arose by chance from a chemical soup, beginning with an evolution from a one celled amoeba.
Any thinking person knows in their heart that such a postulation is a joke, and in "Forbidden Archaeology" Cremo went a long way toward proving his case against Darwinism, an outdated fad from the 19th century. I mean, c'mon folks. Please do some reading. Darwin has long since been proven wrong, and more importantly, there is the Human Spirit to consider, not to mention the Human Soul.
We are not simply made of matter, and come into existence by chance. If that is all science has to offer as an explanation for human existence, then science is a joke in that regard (though science is undoubtedly valuable in other ways). But science should stay out of the "why are we here" debate, because scientists do not believe in anything they cannot see or measure.
Scientists ignore what they certainly must feel inside, as far as what Human Beings are. We all know we are really Spirits living in Human Bodies, and we know this not because we can observe it, but because we can feel it every moment of our waking lives.
We can feel it, and so we do not need to observe it, because we know the Human Spirit is real.
This is what Michael Cremo's "Human Devolution" is all about. He presents all kinds of supernatural evidence for the existence of the human spirit and it's connection to the Holy Spirit, including testimony of materialisations at sceances, to the healings at Lourdes, to all kinds of miracles in between. Cremo is a practicing Hindu. I am not, but I respect his beliefs and agree with many of them.
Most of all I use my own intelligence to make sense of the available information on Human Life and the existence of consciousness, and I separate this knowledge from that of science and scientists, who are incredible at measuring and explaining the physical world but who are lost and in over their heads when trying to explain human origins, or when trying to interpret God's world, which is not something fanciful but rather something that we all intuit very strongly inside.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
I'm not a big reader of fiction (except for SK), but every now and then I find a writer I like. Tremblay was the discovery of the year, and probably the decade. I read all three of his modern horror novels in rapid succession and could not put any of them down, just kept turning the pages, I was very impressed by his ability to make his stories come alive, and also by his originality. Paul Tremblay is The Man as far as new horror writers go. Stephen King didn't steer us wrong.
Michael Harvey is really good as well. He is definitely a "page turner" kind of writer, who knows how to keep you jumping along with his plot twists. As the fiction books I do read are normally from the horror genre (and very few at that), it is even rarer for me to read a crime novel, but "Pulse" was so good that I just ordered from the Libe Harvey's "Brighton", which Stephen King also raved about.
King fans know that SK grew up on John D. McDonald's hard-boiled detective novels. McDonald was one of his favorite writers as a youth, and I think he has tried to emulate him somewhat with his own stab at the crime genre, with his "Mr. Mercedes" trilogy. I enjoyed those King books, which were very popular and have been made into a TV series, but I prefer his horror.
My own recommendation would be to get ahold of the Tremblay books as fast as you can, and start pounding them, but only if you are not squeamish. And as for Michael Harvey, give him a chance also. His writing can be a bit mystical and flowery, he is a Boston Irishman after all - and his stories are set in Beantown - but he too has an original twist to his plots. I was enjoying "Pulse" very much, but near the end my appreciation went from respectful to "he knocked it out of the park". This is because he is able to understand the supernatural aspects of thought, and how thought and perception interact on a quantum level where time and memory are stationed.
This is why Harvey's writing can be a bit vague and soaked in Irish Mist, because he is tuned in to the Spirit World. In "Pulse" he tries to interpret his main character's mind reading ability from a police detective's point of view, but the inner life of the protagonist predominates. We see what he sees as he searches the inner spaces of other people's consciousness to try and solve his brother's murder.
So there are a couple of writers for you, Paul Tremblay and Michael Harvey.
I also recently finished Michael Cremo's "Human Devolution". Cremo, you may recall from my writings earlier in 2018, also wrote the megawork "Forbidden Archaeology", a book that I feel should be in every classroom in America. "Human Devolution" continues Cremo's mission to explore and explain human history and to pose the question of what is a human being in the first place?
This got my attention toward Cremo, because I have wondered the same thing for a very long time.
"What is a Human Being"?
As he points out, the majority of scientists say that we are only elements of matter and that we arose by chance from a chemical soup, beginning with an evolution from a one celled amoeba.
Any thinking person knows in their heart that such a postulation is a joke, and in "Forbidden Archaeology" Cremo went a long way toward proving his case against Darwinism, an outdated fad from the 19th century. I mean, c'mon folks. Please do some reading. Darwin has long since been proven wrong, and more importantly, there is the Human Spirit to consider, not to mention the Human Soul.
We are not simply made of matter, and come into existence by chance. If that is all science has to offer as an explanation for human existence, then science is a joke in that regard (though science is undoubtedly valuable in other ways). But science should stay out of the "why are we here" debate, because scientists do not believe in anything they cannot see or measure.
Scientists ignore what they certainly must feel inside, as far as what Human Beings are. We all know we are really Spirits living in Human Bodies, and we know this not because we can observe it, but because we can feel it every moment of our waking lives.
We can feel it, and so we do not need to observe it, because we know the Human Spirit is real.
This is what Michael Cremo's "Human Devolution" is all about. He presents all kinds of supernatural evidence for the existence of the human spirit and it's connection to the Holy Spirit, including testimony of materialisations at sceances, to the healings at Lourdes, to all kinds of miracles in between. Cremo is a practicing Hindu. I am not, but I respect his beliefs and agree with many of them.
Most of all I use my own intelligence to make sense of the available information on Human Life and the existence of consciousness, and I separate this knowledge from that of science and scientists, who are incredible at measuring and explaining the physical world but who are lost and in over their heads when trying to explain human origins, or when trying to interpret God's world, which is not something fanciful but rather something that we all intuit very strongly inside.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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