A tad cooler today, only 107 haha, but we had the increased humidity that I talked about in last night's blog, so it actually felt hotter today, at least for me. Yesterday we had the extremely arid condition of 6% humidity, and today it was about 20%, which is not as bad as when we get the Monsoon Weather of 40-60 %, but still enough of a difference to make the heat feel like a hammer and to make you sweat through your shirt.
No hike today, though I did take a walk down past Studio 606 when I went to the Libe and found it closed because the air conditioner was broken. 606 is just two blocks down from Northridge Library and I occasionally walk past there, just to see if anything is happening. I call it my "Grohl Walk". Many big names have used the studio, including Paul McCartney himself, but I've never seen a doggone thing, nary a person going in or out, except for Lemmy who is painted on the back of the building. On my way back I stopped at the 99 Centavo Mercado for a gallon of water (Crystal Geyser, delicious), then I headed back to Pearl's, where the AC has been cranked for about 48 hours straight and is thankfully still running. Yes, I am a heatmeister, but I only love it outdoors because I love Summer. I decidedly do not like stifling heat indoors, and in that way I am just like everybody else.
On my way back to Pearl's I was listening to KUSC, and I came in at the middle of an aria. I was a little bit Zenned Out due to the heat and humidity and the endorphins from exercise, and I was suddenly listening to this amazing voice singing a most beautiful and emotional piece of music. I knew I had heard it before; the refrain was familiar. But the soprano was taking it to a level worthy of Dame Janet Baker or someone of that caliber. I was getting goosebumps listening to her voice rise and fall. I noted the time on the car's digital clock, so that I could look the piece up on KUSC's website (they keep a playlist), but as it turned out, I didn't have to. The eminent DJ Rich Caparella came on with the info that it had been Rene Fleming singing "Song To The Moon" by Anton Dvorak. Ms. Fleming is of course one of the greatest of modern day sopranos. You know great singing when it gives you goosebumps.
Listen to Rene Fleming sing "Song To The Moon" if you get a chance and if you feel like it.
That was most of the news for today. I did not watch a movie, though I did watch another of the David Lynch "Twin Peaks" half hour documentary films that are included in the TP dvd set as bonus footage. I have really enjoyed these little films because you get to watch the man at work, as he takes command of this gigantic project. We all know David Lynch "The Image", and so for us fans it's great to see him as a real person, and to watch him work with his actors and crew. I worry about his smoking because they show him puffing on cigarette after cigarette, but then my Mom smoked and lived to be 82, and Lynch is only 72, so he's got at least ten years left to make more art. And he does Transcendental Meditation, too, so he'll probably make it to 90 at least.
I also watched an episode of "Kolchak". You remember him - he is the newspaper reporter based in Chicago who seeks out stories that are supernatural, and winds up battling Vampires and Werewolves and all kinds of other spooky and antagonistic dudes who are not of this world. In this episode, he pursued the case of an orchestra conductor who had become possessed by the spirit of a recently deceased arsonist.
Now that's a far out idea for a TV script, but it's one that I won't try to explain because it's late and I've got church and choir in the morning. But watch it if you can, right after you listen to Rene Fleming.
See you in the morn and then after church. Stay cool. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Saturday, July 7, 2018
115 Degrees + Mr. Moto = An Excellent Combination
Okay, well - it did materialize. The heat, that is. In fact, make that The Heat. Remember last night, I said that it felt too cool to develop into the temperatures that were predicted. But it did develop and then some. By 3pm it had reached 115 degrees in Northridge. Some parts of the Valley got as high as 117. So temperature-wise, it was one of the five hottest days I can remember, a certified Rip-Roaster.
However, as I remarked on Facebook, it really wasn't as uncomfortable as you might imagine, because of the extremely low humidity, only 6%. I remember going to Las Vegas in June of 1981, and when we got there the temp was way up high, probably close to 110. But it was "dry heat", as they say - desert heat - and so the air felt light despite the high number. It was super hot, but not too oppressive as compared with what we were used to in the Valley. That type of ultra dry heat was new to me, and today was the first time I can remember experiencing it here in the Valley.
Usually when we get an extreme temperature (above 110), which happens maybe a few days a year, it is accompanied by what they call "monsoon" conditions, even though we don't get monsoons. But what we do get is high humidity, 40 to 60 %, and when combined with a char-broiling temperature it feels like a red hot bubbling sweat box full of heavy air with a lid on top. I can remember some hikes back in 2014 where I was pouring with sweat. The temp was perhaps 100 to 105, but the humidity was much higher than today. And so the quality of the heat felt much different, much heavier.
This afternoon, I went to Aliso at 4pm for a nice 2 1/2 mile walk. Yeah, I'm nuts - but.....
As you know I enjoy the heat, and the thing was that I barely broke a sweat because the air was so dry.
And so, the whole point of my explanation is to say that, even though we had a record high temperature for this day, and one of the highest Valley temps ever recorded, it did not feel as hot as when we have had those really heavyweight monsoon humidity conditions in combination with extreme temps.
But yeah........ today it was very hot indeed. And I'll take it any day over freezing my butt off in December, lol. The Dreaded L.A. Cold is what I fear.
It was still 103 a few hours ago at 10pm. Not sure what it is now. We've got the air conditioner cranked here at Pearl's.
I also don't mean to make light of the effects of the heat on other people. I know for many it is very hard to deal with. Tomorrow should be about ten degrees cooler, doggonnit. :)
I kid, I kid! But it will be a tad cooler. The main thing is to pray for no wind and no fires, thank You Lord. ///
Tonight I watched another Moto, my fifth in a month. I love Moto! This one was called "Mr. Moto In Danger Island". As the movie begins, Moto is in San Juan, Puerto Rico, sitting ringside at a wrestling match. As the match ends, the losing wrestler blames Moto and his friends for influencing the referee with their catcalls. Moto uses Ju Jitsu to thwart his attack, and the winning wrestler becomes his devotee. Together, they infiltrate a diamond smuggling ring, the real reason for Mr. Moto's being on the island in the first place. Moto meets with the Governor and Commissioner of Puerto Rico and their underlings - all caucasian - and begins to discern the workings of the operation. He fakes an appendicitis attack to make the bad guys think he is near death, to give them false confidence, and then later on, he writes a press release which states that "Mr. Moto" the detective is an imposter. The man posing as Moto is in fact a Japanese criminal mastermind.
But he is just playing the bad guys. Moto is an investigative genius, as we have seen through the five films we have reviewed thus far, and he has tricks up his sleeve that neither you nor I nor certainly the crooks can imagine.
I wish Mr. Moto was investigating Trump! Everything would have been settled by now.....
But yeah........Moto. As played by the great Peter Lorre, for whom I have great admiration now, having seen this series of films. It is said that Lorre himself disdained the character, and wanted out of the "Mr. Moto" series after making eight pictures in just two years.
That's a lot of work in a short period of time, and Lorre was a serious actor who had won wide acclaim for his role in "M", and he would go on to greater fame for "Casablanca" in 1941. But I have gotta say, as great as he was (and is) in all his other roles, he created an indelible character in "Mr. Moto", and it is that character and this series of films that showed me another side of Peter Lorre, who had always been cast as killers and psychos. With Mr. Moto he was an inscrutable, sophisticated and mild mannered hero, and he nailed every aspect of his role, even despite the fact - as I just learned tonight in watching some bonus dvd material - that he was seriously addicted to morphine while making the Moto movies.
You'd never know it.
So here's to Peter Lorre, a great actor, and here's to the Mr. Moto movies, even if he didn't like them himself. Sorry Peter, you are wrong because they are a lot of fun and you were great in each one. ///
Elizabeth, that was another fantastic photo on FB Stories this afternoon. The birds in the pic look 3D, lit by the twin bolts of sunlight coming down in the middle. It must have been one of those photos where you had to snap immediately.....before the birds flew away. And you got them.
I see that you were in Indiana, at a state park along Lake Michigan. You were not all that far from Dad Country! :) My Dad was from Goshen, which I Googled and it was only 62 miles from Indiana Dunes.
Pretty cool, I think, and another great photo from you.
See you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
However, as I remarked on Facebook, it really wasn't as uncomfortable as you might imagine, because of the extremely low humidity, only 6%. I remember going to Las Vegas in June of 1981, and when we got there the temp was way up high, probably close to 110. But it was "dry heat", as they say - desert heat - and so the air felt light despite the high number. It was super hot, but not too oppressive as compared with what we were used to in the Valley. That type of ultra dry heat was new to me, and today was the first time I can remember experiencing it here in the Valley.
Usually when we get an extreme temperature (above 110), which happens maybe a few days a year, it is accompanied by what they call "monsoon" conditions, even though we don't get monsoons. But what we do get is high humidity, 40 to 60 %, and when combined with a char-broiling temperature it feels like a red hot bubbling sweat box full of heavy air with a lid on top. I can remember some hikes back in 2014 where I was pouring with sweat. The temp was perhaps 100 to 105, but the humidity was much higher than today. And so the quality of the heat felt much different, much heavier.
This afternoon, I went to Aliso at 4pm for a nice 2 1/2 mile walk. Yeah, I'm nuts - but.....
As you know I enjoy the heat, and the thing was that I barely broke a sweat because the air was so dry.
And so, the whole point of my explanation is to say that, even though we had a record high temperature for this day, and one of the highest Valley temps ever recorded, it did not feel as hot as when we have had those really heavyweight monsoon humidity conditions in combination with extreme temps.
But yeah........ today it was very hot indeed. And I'll take it any day over freezing my butt off in December, lol. The Dreaded L.A. Cold is what I fear.
It was still 103 a few hours ago at 10pm. Not sure what it is now. We've got the air conditioner cranked here at Pearl's.
I also don't mean to make light of the effects of the heat on other people. I know for many it is very hard to deal with. Tomorrow should be about ten degrees cooler, doggonnit. :)
I kid, I kid! But it will be a tad cooler. The main thing is to pray for no wind and no fires, thank You Lord. ///
Tonight I watched another Moto, my fifth in a month. I love Moto! This one was called "Mr. Moto In Danger Island". As the movie begins, Moto is in San Juan, Puerto Rico, sitting ringside at a wrestling match. As the match ends, the losing wrestler blames Moto and his friends for influencing the referee with their catcalls. Moto uses Ju Jitsu to thwart his attack, and the winning wrestler becomes his devotee. Together, they infiltrate a diamond smuggling ring, the real reason for Mr. Moto's being on the island in the first place. Moto meets with the Governor and Commissioner of Puerto Rico and their underlings - all caucasian - and begins to discern the workings of the operation. He fakes an appendicitis attack to make the bad guys think he is near death, to give them false confidence, and then later on, he writes a press release which states that "Mr. Moto" the detective is an imposter. The man posing as Moto is in fact a Japanese criminal mastermind.
But he is just playing the bad guys. Moto is an investigative genius, as we have seen through the five films we have reviewed thus far, and he has tricks up his sleeve that neither you nor I nor certainly the crooks can imagine.
I wish Mr. Moto was investigating Trump! Everything would have been settled by now.....
But yeah........Moto. As played by the great Peter Lorre, for whom I have great admiration now, having seen this series of films. It is said that Lorre himself disdained the character, and wanted out of the "Mr. Moto" series after making eight pictures in just two years.
That's a lot of work in a short period of time, and Lorre was a serious actor who had won wide acclaim for his role in "M", and he would go on to greater fame for "Casablanca" in 1941. But I have gotta say, as great as he was (and is) in all his other roles, he created an indelible character in "Mr. Moto", and it is that character and this series of films that showed me another side of Peter Lorre, who had always been cast as killers and psychos. With Mr. Moto he was an inscrutable, sophisticated and mild mannered hero, and he nailed every aspect of his role, even despite the fact - as I just learned tonight in watching some bonus dvd material - that he was seriously addicted to morphine while making the Moto movies.
You'd never know it.
So here's to Peter Lorre, a great actor, and here's to the Mr. Moto movies, even if he didn't like them himself. Sorry Peter, you are wrong because they are a lot of fun and you were great in each one. ///
Elizabeth, that was another fantastic photo on FB Stories this afternoon. The birds in the pic look 3D, lit by the twin bolts of sunlight coming down in the middle. It must have been one of those photos where you had to snap immediately.....before the birds flew away. And you got them.
I see that you were in Indiana, at a state park along Lake Michigan. You were not all that far from Dad Country! :) My Dad was from Goshen, which I Googled and it was only 62 miles from Indiana Dunes.
Pretty cool, I think, and another great photo from you.
See you in the morn. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Friday, July 6, 2018
"Moonrise", A Top Notch Noir From Criterion
Tonight's movie was "Moonrise" (1948), directed by Frank Borzage ,who made many well known pictures in the 30s and 40s. I found this film in a Library search for the latest Criterion releases, and boy is it ever a classic! An actor named Dane Cook, whom I hadn't heard of, stars as a troubled young man who lives with his aunt in a small town in Virginia. He is full of anguish because he has lived in torment since childhood. His father was a convicted murderer who was executed for his crime, and at the beginning of the movie, we see this. Then we immediately witness the malicious taunting his son Danny is subjected to at the hands of a child bully who is bigger than him. The bully uses cruel language to make fun of the fact that Danny's father was hanged, Danny is only about six years old, and this taunting has an enormous effect on his life, on top of what he has already endured as the son of a killer.
Cut to adulthood. Danny is now about 25 and alternately angry and depressed. His childhood tormentor still lives nearby and has grown into a tall and handsome man (Lloyd Bridges). They run into each other at local dances by a lake. Bridges has the prettiest girl in town (the tragic Gail Russell) ; Danny has no one. Even now in adulthood, Lloyd Bridges - the former childhood bully - cannot help but continue to taunt Danny about his father. Lloyd Bridges own father is the town banker, Danny's dad was an executed murderer. Bridges taunts Danny to make himself look big to his friends, and to his girl Gail Russell, but she sees how cruel he is in reality, and she begins to have sympathy for Danny.
Finally, at a nighttime dance by the lake, a fight starts between Danny and the much bigger Lloyd Bridges. It is at this point that the plot takes off in several directions and so I can't reveal any more.
But, I can tell you that everything about "Moonrise" is fantastic. The story itself is part Noir, part Gothic Romance. It is also a fugitive story about a man with a secret, and how his secret collapses in on him just as his life is getting better. The setting of the town is next to a swamp and almost everything is shot at night, and so there is a foggy, mossy, haunted look to the sets, from the old weathered mansion Danny resides in with his aunt, to the old wooden cabin owned by his friend and sometime employer Moses, an educated black man (played by Rex Ingram) who rents out his hunting dogs to the white folk, and who knows all their secrets.
The restoration by Criterion is top notch as usual, and they have really nailed the grey scale tones in the incredible black and white photography, which is some of the best I have ever seen in a noir.
The photography goes so well with the story that it becomes part of it.
I am a big fan of noir as you know, and so I was surprised that I had never heard of "Moonrise" prior to my Library search about a month ago. Perhaps it did not make as big an impression as it could have in 1948 because of it's different style elements. It has crime and a man on the run (noir), but it also has very tender romance and psychological soul searching dialogue, and on top of that the look of the film is pure Southern Gothic. And other than Gail Russell, it didn't have big stars. But it deserves to be seen, and now that it has a Criterion release it certainly will be.
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "Moonrise", a minor classic that gets my highest recommendation. ///
Elizabeth, I saw a photo on FB Stories - a black and white photo :) - that looked like it was taken maybe in a University lounge, or maybe in the museum you visited the other day. There are chairs in the front and to the side, but what makes the picture are the images from the windows in back, of the trees and reflections of light given off. You even have some straight parallel lines of light running across the center of the windows, a detail that adds to this type of sunlight exposure. This is an example of what I mean when I say that black and white creates pure imagery, form as opposed to real time reality.
Hope you had a good day - keep taking pix!
We are gearing up for what is supposed to be a three day heat wave starting tomorrow.
They say it's gonna be 113 degrees, but as I write, I am not feeling it. I mean, I myself wouldn't mind 113, just because I'm a Heat Weirdo, but it just feels too cool now, late at night, for such a temperature to begin to develop by the time the sun rises.
I will predict a more moderate 105. We shall see in the morning, and I will report back tomorrow night.
Stay cool. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Cut to adulthood. Danny is now about 25 and alternately angry and depressed. His childhood tormentor still lives nearby and has grown into a tall and handsome man (Lloyd Bridges). They run into each other at local dances by a lake. Bridges has the prettiest girl in town (the tragic Gail Russell) ; Danny has no one. Even now in adulthood, Lloyd Bridges - the former childhood bully - cannot help but continue to taunt Danny about his father. Lloyd Bridges own father is the town banker, Danny's dad was an executed murderer. Bridges taunts Danny to make himself look big to his friends, and to his girl Gail Russell, but she sees how cruel he is in reality, and she begins to have sympathy for Danny.
Finally, at a nighttime dance by the lake, a fight starts between Danny and the much bigger Lloyd Bridges. It is at this point that the plot takes off in several directions and so I can't reveal any more.
But, I can tell you that everything about "Moonrise" is fantastic. The story itself is part Noir, part Gothic Romance. It is also a fugitive story about a man with a secret, and how his secret collapses in on him just as his life is getting better. The setting of the town is next to a swamp and almost everything is shot at night, and so there is a foggy, mossy, haunted look to the sets, from the old weathered mansion Danny resides in with his aunt, to the old wooden cabin owned by his friend and sometime employer Moses, an educated black man (played by Rex Ingram) who rents out his hunting dogs to the white folk, and who knows all their secrets.
The restoration by Criterion is top notch as usual, and they have really nailed the grey scale tones in the incredible black and white photography, which is some of the best I have ever seen in a noir.
The photography goes so well with the story that it becomes part of it.
I am a big fan of noir as you know, and so I was surprised that I had never heard of "Moonrise" prior to my Library search about a month ago. Perhaps it did not make as big an impression as it could have in 1948 because of it's different style elements. It has crime and a man on the run (noir), but it also has very tender romance and psychological soul searching dialogue, and on top of that the look of the film is pure Southern Gothic. And other than Gail Russell, it didn't have big stars. But it deserves to be seen, and now that it has a Criterion release it certainly will be.
Two Very Big Thumbs Up for "Moonrise", a minor classic that gets my highest recommendation. ///
Elizabeth, I saw a photo on FB Stories - a black and white photo :) - that looked like it was taken maybe in a University lounge, or maybe in the museum you visited the other day. There are chairs in the front and to the side, but what makes the picture are the images from the windows in back, of the trees and reflections of light given off. You even have some straight parallel lines of light running across the center of the windows, a detail that adds to this type of sunlight exposure. This is an example of what I mean when I say that black and white creates pure imagery, form as opposed to real time reality.
Hope you had a good day - keep taking pix!
We are gearing up for what is supposed to be a three day heat wave starting tomorrow.
They say it's gonna be 113 degrees, but as I write, I am not feeling it. I mean, I myself wouldn't mind 113, just because I'm a Heat Weirdo, but it just feels too cool now, late at night, for such a temperature to begin to develop by the time the sun rises.
I will predict a more moderate 105. We shall see in the morning, and I will report back tomorrow night.
Stay cool. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Happy 4th of July, a Fun Day Today, with Many Memories
No movie, but a very active 4th of July. My sister Vickie came over at 12:30 and we went shopping. She wanted to go out to Sears at the Northridge Mall to look at vacuum cleaners. Since we were at the Mall, I was hoping to have a chance to look around at a few stores once again for some much-needed Cool Shirts, but time did not permit, and I didn't think my sis wanted to follow me around on my search anyway, so I shall return on my own before July reaches it's midpoint. Any longer after that and all the Fall stuff would be on display. It's Summer Shirts I want, but they've gotta be Cool as previously specified. If they aren't, I will hold out.
We also went shopping at Sprouts and Trader Josephus's in Granada Hills. Both stores were jam packed because of the holiday, but it's kinda fun to be Amongst The People when everyone is in a Festive Mood and purchasing supplies for the evening's barbeques and beer fests.
People love the 4th and I am no exception. It is one of my favorite holidays.
Despite the books I read and the subjects I am interested in (uncovering the truth about everything from JFK to 9/11, and all crimes in between), I still believe in The United States Of America, and that is because I believe 100% in the noble ideals this country stands for, as I was taught in school as a child.
Have we had corrupt leaders? For certain. We have had leaders as bad as any Nazi. Have we engaged in egregious sins against the Indians and the original African slaves and to an extent against their descendants? Yes we have. We have a score of widely known but never really apologised for sins and crimes to our name.
But those crimes were committed by a certain number of men, not by our country. And even if the number of men was high, and even if those men belonged to the military, or to government, or were men of wealth and power, their deeds still cannot besmirch the ideals of this country, which is mostly made up of good citizens who just want to believe in the promise of a good life.
Bad guys, even if they are Presidents, do not equal a bad country.
America is a great country, with great ideals that we must live up to and never let go of or stop believing in. Thanks for listening and I have now stepped down from my soapbox. :)
I think I feel the way I do because I have a close connection, through my parents, to the Greatest Generation, who grew up during the Depression and then fought and lived through WW2. They really got thrown into the deep end as young people, but they stepped up to the plate and saved the world because they believed in the ideals of America.
So, screw Trump and all the other bad guys throughout American history, but hooray for America the Country, and for it's people. Never stop believing in it, but feel your love in your heart. Never use it as a slogan. True patriotism is quiet, yet very strong.
Now I am really off the soapbox, honest. :)
After my shopping with Vickie, I was back at Pearl's. I wanted to take her to Lake Balboa because that had been an annual tradition in years past. In fact, last 4th of July was the last time we went there as The Crew - meaning me, Pearl and The Kobedog. Kobi was frail then, and he passed away just ten days later.........but it remains an awesome memory, and so I wanted to take Pearl again today because the lake is very festive on July 4th, jammed with people and dogs and barbeques and ducks and pedal boaters and even... The Gopher. But Pearl was a bit sleepy, as happens these days, so we didn't make it to the lake. I did get her to go on a Gigantic Mega Wheelchair Push, however, which extended way past our usual route and all the way up to Cantara Street School, a mile away. My goodness!
We pushed all over the joint, past The Tract (as the area of Fickett Houses is known) way up to the school and then back down by way of Newcastle Street, where a coincidence of friends once lived many years ago : Sean, Pat, and Lys, who lived a bit further down the street. I remembered a tennis match in the middle of that street long past. Memories came back and I absorbed them, and continued to push the wheelchair. The evening was warm, with blinding setting sun to the west but shade to be had beside cinderblock property walls along the sidewalk heading south. We stuck close to the shady walls and headed home, though I always stop on our walks to point out every tree and colorful flower to Pearl, for mental and spirtual stimulation.
Finally this evening, I drove up to Porter Ranch as usual at 8pm. I parked in my usual spot on a side street a mile away from Shepherd Church (a megachurch), and I walked my usual walk to the fireworks site on Rinaldi Street. There was a huge crowd there as always, my guess is 50,000 people, give or take.
The fireworks show was great of course, but this year there was one new twist which was really cool.
They had three para-jumpers jump out of a plane, in the night sky, and they descended to earth all lit up, with lights on their uniforms. Each jumper also trailed a fountain of sparks. They had American Flag parachutes. The crowd "ooohed" and "ahhhed". I've seen jumpers at air shows but had never seen a night jump, and I don't think the crowd had either. Each guy, in succession, hit a target in the center of Rinaldi St., and right when the last guy landed, the fireworks began. It was the usual 20 minute show set to patriotic music, and the crackling, bursting colors in the sky capped off a very nice day, of good energy and great nuance of feeling.
Elizabeth, I just saw on FB Stories that you went to see fireworks as well. It looks like from over the lake, so the setting could be either Chicago or Wisconsin, but I am glad you got to see the whole show before the rain began. I hope you had a blast, and a great day. I am glad the "Murica" guy behind you enjoyed it too, lol. Who knows....maybe he was being ironic. :)
Or maybe not. :)
Happy 4th! See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
We also went shopping at Sprouts and Trader Josephus's in Granada Hills. Both stores were jam packed because of the holiday, but it's kinda fun to be Amongst The People when everyone is in a Festive Mood and purchasing supplies for the evening's barbeques and beer fests.
People love the 4th and I am no exception. It is one of my favorite holidays.
Despite the books I read and the subjects I am interested in (uncovering the truth about everything from JFK to 9/11, and all crimes in between), I still believe in The United States Of America, and that is because I believe 100% in the noble ideals this country stands for, as I was taught in school as a child.
Have we had corrupt leaders? For certain. We have had leaders as bad as any Nazi. Have we engaged in egregious sins against the Indians and the original African slaves and to an extent against their descendants? Yes we have. We have a score of widely known but never really apologised for sins and crimes to our name.
But those crimes were committed by a certain number of men, not by our country. And even if the number of men was high, and even if those men belonged to the military, or to government, or were men of wealth and power, their deeds still cannot besmirch the ideals of this country, which is mostly made up of good citizens who just want to believe in the promise of a good life.
Bad guys, even if they are Presidents, do not equal a bad country.
America is a great country, with great ideals that we must live up to and never let go of or stop believing in. Thanks for listening and I have now stepped down from my soapbox. :)
I think I feel the way I do because I have a close connection, through my parents, to the Greatest Generation, who grew up during the Depression and then fought and lived through WW2. They really got thrown into the deep end as young people, but they stepped up to the plate and saved the world because they believed in the ideals of America.
So, screw Trump and all the other bad guys throughout American history, but hooray for America the Country, and for it's people. Never stop believing in it, but feel your love in your heart. Never use it as a slogan. True patriotism is quiet, yet very strong.
Now I am really off the soapbox, honest. :)
After my shopping with Vickie, I was back at Pearl's. I wanted to take her to Lake Balboa because that had been an annual tradition in years past. In fact, last 4th of July was the last time we went there as The Crew - meaning me, Pearl and The Kobedog. Kobi was frail then, and he passed away just ten days later.........but it remains an awesome memory, and so I wanted to take Pearl again today because the lake is very festive on July 4th, jammed with people and dogs and barbeques and ducks and pedal boaters and even... The Gopher. But Pearl was a bit sleepy, as happens these days, so we didn't make it to the lake. I did get her to go on a Gigantic Mega Wheelchair Push, however, which extended way past our usual route and all the way up to Cantara Street School, a mile away. My goodness!
We pushed all over the joint, past The Tract (as the area of Fickett Houses is known) way up to the school and then back down by way of Newcastle Street, where a coincidence of friends once lived many years ago : Sean, Pat, and Lys, who lived a bit further down the street. I remembered a tennis match in the middle of that street long past. Memories came back and I absorbed them, and continued to push the wheelchair. The evening was warm, with blinding setting sun to the west but shade to be had beside cinderblock property walls along the sidewalk heading south. We stuck close to the shady walls and headed home, though I always stop on our walks to point out every tree and colorful flower to Pearl, for mental and spirtual stimulation.
Finally this evening, I drove up to Porter Ranch as usual at 8pm. I parked in my usual spot on a side street a mile away from Shepherd Church (a megachurch), and I walked my usual walk to the fireworks site on Rinaldi Street. There was a huge crowd there as always, my guess is 50,000 people, give or take.
The fireworks show was great of course, but this year there was one new twist which was really cool.
They had three para-jumpers jump out of a plane, in the night sky, and they descended to earth all lit up, with lights on their uniforms. Each jumper also trailed a fountain of sparks. They had American Flag parachutes. The crowd "ooohed" and "ahhhed". I've seen jumpers at air shows but had never seen a night jump, and I don't think the crowd had either. Each guy, in succession, hit a target in the center of Rinaldi St., and right when the last guy landed, the fireworks began. It was the usual 20 minute show set to patriotic music, and the crackling, bursting colors in the sky capped off a very nice day, of good energy and great nuance of feeling.
Elizabeth, I just saw on FB Stories that you went to see fireworks as well. It looks like from over the lake, so the setting could be either Chicago or Wisconsin, but I am glad you got to see the whole show before the rain began. I hope you had a blast, and a great day. I am glad the "Murica" guy behind you enjoyed it too, lol. Who knows....maybe he was being ironic. :)
Or maybe not. :)
Happy 4th! See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
I'm Back + "Rally Round The Flag, Boys" + American Culture + More Mr. Moto
I'm back. Sorry I missed ya last night. I actually did start to write a blog, about a movie I watched called "Rally Round The Flag, Boys" (1958), which starred Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Joan Collins. It was a fun movie, a farce comedy done in a lighthearted, playful style that was popular in the late 50s and early 60s, with a lot of PG rated sexual innuendo and pastel color schemes (and spectacular Color By Deluxe). "Rally" was directed by Leo McCarey, who also directed the five star classic "The Awful Truth" way back in 1937. I watched and reviewed that one just a few weeks ago, and I found "Rally" by doing a Leo McCarey search at the Libe.
The problem with last night's blog was that I intended to simply review the movie like I always do, but I started to write about the director McCarey instead, and I got into a real esoteric and obtuse comparison of his directing styles between the pre-war "Awful Truth" and "Rally", which came out two years after Elvis. I got into this big cultural comparison, and all of a sudden I had gone on a tangent that would have taken me about an hour to get out of, if I was going to make my points on the various themes I had set out.
That can be a problem with spontaneous writing, and most especially when the writer is a Tangent Monger like myself. With last night's blog, I looked at the clock. The hour was late and I was still jabbering away. I read back what I had written, and it was so All Over The Place, and none of it was even about the movie, that I had to just say "scratch it". It was one big tangent, and so I just deleted the whole thing and went to bed. Sorry 'bout dat. :)
"Rally Round The Flag, Boys" is really just a culture clash comedy, executed in the previously described breezy and colorful style of the times. It is the story of a man in public relations (Newman), who lives in a small town with his wife (Woodward, who was Newman's wife in real life). His job takes him out of town a lot. His wife doesn't love that fact, but she deals with it by joining a lot of civic groups, thus her time if filled too. The couple love each other but they never see one another. Enter sexy neighbor Joan Collins, whose own husband is way out in Hollywood, working as a TV executive. She is bored and lonely, so she attaches herself to Paul Newman, who does everything he can to both placate her (because she is unstoppable in her quest), and go right up to the edge of the cliff with her, without actually going over (i.e cheating on his wife). All of this is presented as farce, with a lot of gags interceding. Then the whole "lonely marriage" scenario is interrupted by a Big Military Decision. The Army has decided to use the small town as a place to construct a base for a Secret Project.
This happens after the stage has been set with accusations of adultery and Newman's wife has kicked him out. She focuses all her energy into organizing her civic groups and townspeople into resisting the Army's land grab, which as it turns out is for a missile base. Now she needs her husband Paul Newman back, because he is a PR expert. He can help with the cause.
But not if Joan Collins can prevent it, and she seems to have Newman caught in her web.
"Rally Round The Flag, Boys" is most entertaining as a time capsule of late 50s culture, and everything that was new back then: Rock 'n Roll was new, youth culture was brand new, the whole idea of Teenagers as a demographic. Famous 50s cutie Tuesday Weld has some great scenes as the daughter of a town leader. She speaks an unintelligible lingo made up of "Daddios" and "Squares" and "Cubes", with plenty of "Weird"s thrown in for good measure. It reminded me of something my Mom once said about my sister Vickie; that when she was a Teenager, all she ever said was "Weird"! and "Wow"!
So yeah, the late 50s brought on the advent of Teenagers, and they influenced the adults to lighten up, and so all of a sudden drinking whiskey before dinner was routine, and Martinis were an every night thing. Going to dinner parties was a regular thing too.
A brand new Humongous Military Machine was brand new as well. We had just finished bombing Germany into the stone age, and now we had built not only the Atomic Bomb but the Hydrogen Bomb too. So those themes were brand new, with all the attendant paranoia included.
And finally, Outer Space was brand new, because we were just then developing rockets to compete with the Soviets, who had launched the first satellite, Sputnik.
All of this Newness, this new post-WW2 middle class optimism, cultural largesse, and military might is on display in what is otherwise a mostly funny but not classic big studio production.
It's worth a look for all the reasons mentioned, especially for Paul Newman fans, and for the excellent Deluxe Color, which, at that time period, I think was the best ever produced by a film lab.
Let's be generous and give "Rally Round The Flag, Boys" two thumbs up, though we will do so in lower case letters. Fair enough. See it if you are a film fanatic like me. ///
Tonight I watched another movie - I was back with Mr. Moto, which is a good place to be. :)
The title this time was "Mr. Moto Takes A Vacation" (1939). Actually he is just pretending to take a vacation, because he has just returned from a trip to Egypt, where - in disguise as a professor - he has overseen the excavation of the Crown Of The Queen Of Sheba. Here we go with culture again. In the 20s and 30s, "exotic peoples" was a theme. The Far East, the Middle East. Africa, Egypt. All were Exotic. Even Japan, Mr. Moto's home country. Japanese were said to be "Inscrutable". Peter Lorre plays Moto this way.
Just as you can study a film like "Rally" in order to get a fix on the emerging New American Culture that began in the late 1950s, you can also study a film like any of the "Moto"s, in order to understand the ways that America dealt with understanding other cultures that were already here, like the Chinese and Japanese, who are Pacific Rim located, as are we in California.
Hollywood is in California, and so a lot of this depiction of changing American culture can be said to originate from here, and then it is broadcast to the rest of the country, where trends are assimilated.
I have now seen four of the eight Mr. Moto films, and I have seen 'em in a span of just three weeks.
I am reading Phillip F. Nelson's book about the assassination of Martin Luther King, and it is such a horrible story that I could go on a tirade about it, but I won't. Instead, like the "Indigenous People's History" book recently reviewed, I will only suggest you read it.
Truth is important, memory is important, because without truth and memory, bad guys can make up anything they want to make up, and they can present it as "truth" and "history". And there have been a lot of bad guys in world history. That is why you should read at least one of the books I occasionally suggest.
Have a happy Fourth of July, a great holiday for a great country.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
The problem with last night's blog was that I intended to simply review the movie like I always do, but I started to write about the director McCarey instead, and I got into a real esoteric and obtuse comparison of his directing styles between the pre-war "Awful Truth" and "Rally", which came out two years after Elvis. I got into this big cultural comparison, and all of a sudden I had gone on a tangent that would have taken me about an hour to get out of, if I was going to make my points on the various themes I had set out.
That can be a problem with spontaneous writing, and most especially when the writer is a Tangent Monger like myself. With last night's blog, I looked at the clock. The hour was late and I was still jabbering away. I read back what I had written, and it was so All Over The Place, and none of it was even about the movie, that I had to just say "scratch it". It was one big tangent, and so I just deleted the whole thing and went to bed. Sorry 'bout dat. :)
"Rally Round The Flag, Boys" is really just a culture clash comedy, executed in the previously described breezy and colorful style of the times. It is the story of a man in public relations (Newman), who lives in a small town with his wife (Woodward, who was Newman's wife in real life). His job takes him out of town a lot. His wife doesn't love that fact, but she deals with it by joining a lot of civic groups, thus her time if filled too. The couple love each other but they never see one another. Enter sexy neighbor Joan Collins, whose own husband is way out in Hollywood, working as a TV executive. She is bored and lonely, so she attaches herself to Paul Newman, who does everything he can to both placate her (because she is unstoppable in her quest), and go right up to the edge of the cliff with her, without actually going over (i.e cheating on his wife). All of this is presented as farce, with a lot of gags interceding. Then the whole "lonely marriage" scenario is interrupted by a Big Military Decision. The Army has decided to use the small town as a place to construct a base for a Secret Project.
This happens after the stage has been set with accusations of adultery and Newman's wife has kicked him out. She focuses all her energy into organizing her civic groups and townspeople into resisting the Army's land grab, which as it turns out is for a missile base. Now she needs her husband Paul Newman back, because he is a PR expert. He can help with the cause.
But not if Joan Collins can prevent it, and she seems to have Newman caught in her web.
"Rally Round The Flag, Boys" is most entertaining as a time capsule of late 50s culture, and everything that was new back then: Rock 'n Roll was new, youth culture was brand new, the whole idea of Teenagers as a demographic. Famous 50s cutie Tuesday Weld has some great scenes as the daughter of a town leader. She speaks an unintelligible lingo made up of "Daddios" and "Squares" and "Cubes", with plenty of "Weird"s thrown in for good measure. It reminded me of something my Mom once said about my sister Vickie; that when she was a Teenager, all she ever said was "Weird"! and "Wow"!
So yeah, the late 50s brought on the advent of Teenagers, and they influenced the adults to lighten up, and so all of a sudden drinking whiskey before dinner was routine, and Martinis were an every night thing. Going to dinner parties was a regular thing too.
A brand new Humongous Military Machine was brand new as well. We had just finished bombing Germany into the stone age, and now we had built not only the Atomic Bomb but the Hydrogen Bomb too. So those themes were brand new, with all the attendant paranoia included.
And finally, Outer Space was brand new, because we were just then developing rockets to compete with the Soviets, who had launched the first satellite, Sputnik.
All of this Newness, this new post-WW2 middle class optimism, cultural largesse, and military might is on display in what is otherwise a mostly funny but not classic big studio production.
It's worth a look for all the reasons mentioned, especially for Paul Newman fans, and for the excellent Deluxe Color, which, at that time period, I think was the best ever produced by a film lab.
Let's be generous and give "Rally Round The Flag, Boys" two thumbs up, though we will do so in lower case letters. Fair enough. See it if you are a film fanatic like me. ///
Tonight I watched another movie - I was back with Mr. Moto, which is a good place to be. :)
The title this time was "Mr. Moto Takes A Vacation" (1939). Actually he is just pretending to take a vacation, because he has just returned from a trip to Egypt, where - in disguise as a professor - he has overseen the excavation of the Crown Of The Queen Of Sheba. Here we go with culture again. In the 20s and 30s, "exotic peoples" was a theme. The Far East, the Middle East. Africa, Egypt. All were Exotic. Even Japan, Mr. Moto's home country. Japanese were said to be "Inscrutable". Peter Lorre plays Moto this way.
Just as you can study a film like "Rally" in order to get a fix on the emerging New American Culture that began in the late 1950s, you can also study a film like any of the "Moto"s, in order to understand the ways that America dealt with understanding other cultures that were already here, like the Chinese and Japanese, who are Pacific Rim located, as are we in California.
Hollywood is in California, and so a lot of this depiction of changing American culture can be said to originate from here, and then it is broadcast to the rest of the country, where trends are assimilated.
I have now seen four of the eight Mr. Moto films, and I have seen 'em in a span of just three weeks.
I am reading Phillip F. Nelson's book about the assassination of Martin Luther King, and it is such a horrible story that I could go on a tirade about it, but I won't. Instead, like the "Indigenous People's History" book recently reviewed, I will only suggest you read it.
Truth is important, memory is important, because without truth and memory, bad guys can make up anything they want to make up, and they can present it as "truth" and "history". And there have been a lot of bad guys in world history. That is why you should read at least one of the books I occasionally suggest.
Have a happy Fourth of July, a great holiday for a great country.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Monday, July 2, 2018
Good Singing + "It Came From Beneath The Sea"
Because it is almost July 4th, we sang "The Star Spangled Banner" in church this morning, so I got the chance to belt it, just like the singers do at ballgames. It was awesome! Good singin' in general, and I always enjoy choir, so 'twas a good morning even though I do not enjoy getting up early. :)
Flintstone toothpicks are in place, however, strong enough to hold up even the heaviest of eyelids.
Tonight I watched a movie, another one from my Sci-Fi Creature Collection called "It Came From Beneath The Sea". Do you know how, in the 1970s, there were a bunch of horror movies with "Don't" in the title? "Don't Go In The House", "Don't Answer The Phone", "Don't Go In The Basement".
Okay, okay! I won't do any of those things - now stop telling me already. Geez.
Of course, it was a genius marketing move to put "Don't" in the title, because that was a magnet for young people - horror's target audience - to "do" those very things by going to the movie theater.
"Do Go In The House"! "Do Answer The Phone"! "Do Go In The Basement"!
Even if there are a bunch of psychos in all of those places and on the other end of the phone, too.
So yeah......the "Don't" theme was big in the 1970s. And in the 1950s, there was another popular title theme in the sci-fi genre in which a creature in question "came from" somewhere.
The most famous of these titles was "It Came From Outer Space". Then there was tonight's film, "It Came From Beneath The Sea".
Make up your minds, will ya? Did it come from Beneath The Sea or from Outer Space?
Oh........it came from both. Sorry, I wasn't sure.
Actually I've seen both movies, and I've also seen "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", so at least you have the "From" in that title.
I could probably recall a couple of others, but it is a Sunday night and so I shant.
I will give you a brief synopsis of "It Came From Beneath The Sea", however.
An atomic powered submarine is plying the waters of the Pacific in service of the US Navy. It is a brand new sub, said to be indestructible among other attributes, but suddenly on it's sonar there appears a Giant Indiscernible Shape which is rapidly closing in.
Suddenly, it is on top of them, and Whammo!, the sub is hit hard enough to cause it to stall. When the captain sends two Frogmen into the water to check on the damage, they discover a very large piece of Tentacle trapped in an engine duct.
The anamorphous object on the sonar turned out to be a Gigantic Octopus, and I am not hardly joking you. When the submarine crew is able to restore order and get a bead on this thing, they estimate it's size as 100 feet long and probably that tall, too, since it takes on the Golden Gate Bridge later in the movie.
It's Enormous, okay?
What more do you need to know?
"Are scientists working on it"?
Are scientists working on it? Of course they are! Why would you even ask that question? This is a 1950s Science Fiction Flick. And there is enough Science and Military scenery and setup and stock footage of Air Force jets and Navy ships dropping mines into the ocean to more than satisfy any hardware requirements of the genre.
The whole movie is about using the brand new (in the 50s) weaponised technologies of the military to defeat this beyond strong Giant Octopus, who can crush train cars with his little pinkie.
There is a romance angle, too, between the sub Captain Kenneth Tobey and Lady Scientist Faith Domergue. I say "Lady" Scientist, where now a female scientist would rightly be referred to as merely a Scientist, because one of the big messages of this 1955 movie is that women are the equals of men in any academic pursuit, including high level science.
It is interesting to see how social themes were promoted in movies, using romance as a method of demonstration. In this case, Faith Domergue is too busy with her career as a marine biologist to automatically succumb to the pushy male charms of Captain Tobey (although she does like him), but she is a top expert in her field and so romance must wait......
And there is also a freaking Gigantic Octopus out there in San Francisco Bay, and it is pulling down the Golden Gate Bridge for God's sake.
Is anybody gonna do anything?!
That's all I am gonna tell you and you will just have to watch the rest for yourself. :)
Elizabeth, if you are reading I see that you went to a museum today. I guess that the new "stories" feature on FB is a good way to communicate. :) :)
I also saw that the story of "Elemental" wound up on Instagram, and I saw what you wrote, that it will be played in a loop with other dance films, so that answers my question from yesterday.
Thanks for posting that. :):)
That's all I know for tonight. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Flintstone toothpicks are in place, however, strong enough to hold up even the heaviest of eyelids.
Tonight I watched a movie, another one from my Sci-Fi Creature Collection called "It Came From Beneath The Sea". Do you know how, in the 1970s, there were a bunch of horror movies with "Don't" in the title? "Don't Go In The House", "Don't Answer The Phone", "Don't Go In The Basement".
Okay, okay! I won't do any of those things - now stop telling me already. Geez.
Of course, it was a genius marketing move to put "Don't" in the title, because that was a magnet for young people - horror's target audience - to "do" those very things by going to the movie theater.
"Do Go In The House"! "Do Answer The Phone"! "Do Go In The Basement"!
Even if there are a bunch of psychos in all of those places and on the other end of the phone, too.
So yeah......the "Don't" theme was big in the 1970s. And in the 1950s, there was another popular title theme in the sci-fi genre in which a creature in question "came from" somewhere.
The most famous of these titles was "It Came From Outer Space". Then there was tonight's film, "It Came From Beneath The Sea".
Make up your minds, will ya? Did it come from Beneath The Sea or from Outer Space?
Oh........it came from both. Sorry, I wasn't sure.
Actually I've seen both movies, and I've also seen "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", so at least you have the "From" in that title.
I could probably recall a couple of others, but it is a Sunday night and so I shant.
I will give you a brief synopsis of "It Came From Beneath The Sea", however.
An atomic powered submarine is plying the waters of the Pacific in service of the US Navy. It is a brand new sub, said to be indestructible among other attributes, but suddenly on it's sonar there appears a Giant Indiscernible Shape which is rapidly closing in.
Suddenly, it is on top of them, and Whammo!, the sub is hit hard enough to cause it to stall. When the captain sends two Frogmen into the water to check on the damage, they discover a very large piece of Tentacle trapped in an engine duct.
The anamorphous object on the sonar turned out to be a Gigantic Octopus, and I am not hardly joking you. When the submarine crew is able to restore order and get a bead on this thing, they estimate it's size as 100 feet long and probably that tall, too, since it takes on the Golden Gate Bridge later in the movie.
It's Enormous, okay?
What more do you need to know?
"Are scientists working on it"?
Are scientists working on it? Of course they are! Why would you even ask that question? This is a 1950s Science Fiction Flick. And there is enough Science and Military scenery and setup and stock footage of Air Force jets and Navy ships dropping mines into the ocean to more than satisfy any hardware requirements of the genre.
The whole movie is about using the brand new (in the 50s) weaponised technologies of the military to defeat this beyond strong Giant Octopus, who can crush train cars with his little pinkie.
There is a romance angle, too, between the sub Captain Kenneth Tobey and Lady Scientist Faith Domergue. I say "Lady" Scientist, where now a female scientist would rightly be referred to as merely a Scientist, because one of the big messages of this 1955 movie is that women are the equals of men in any academic pursuit, including high level science.
It is interesting to see how social themes were promoted in movies, using romance as a method of demonstration. In this case, Faith Domergue is too busy with her career as a marine biologist to automatically succumb to the pushy male charms of Captain Tobey (although she does like him), but she is a top expert in her field and so romance must wait......
And there is also a freaking Gigantic Octopus out there in San Francisco Bay, and it is pulling down the Golden Gate Bridge for God's sake.
Is anybody gonna do anything?!
That's all I am gonna tell you and you will just have to watch the rest for yourself. :)
Elizabeth, if you are reading I see that you went to a museum today. I guess that the new "stories" feature on FB is a good way to communicate. :) :)
I also saw that the story of "Elemental" wound up on Instagram, and I saw what you wrote, that it will be played in a loop with other dance films, so that answers my question from yesterday.
Thanks for posting that. :):)
That's all I know for tonight. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
Sunday, July 1, 2018
"Rawhide" + David Lynch + America
No movie tonight. Instead, I watched an episode of "Rawhide" from Season Two (1960), so I got a Western Fix anyway because the "Rawhide" shows are like mini-movies, chock full of story, characters and action. I've also been watching the bonus material that was included in the "Twin Peaks" (2017) dvd set. Lynch had a filmmaker named Jason S. follow him around during the making of the show, and he shot a whole bunch of half hour documentaries that show Lynch at work on the sets at various locations like Las Vegas, New Mexico and South Dakota. It is fascinating to watch him work, and to see that he has every aspect of this extraordinarily large production under his control. There were over 200 actors involved with "Twin Peaks", and dozens of themes and sub themes, and as you watch Lynch work, you can see that he has his whole creation of the show, and how he wants it enacted, inside his head.
He knows every technical detail of filmmaking as well. We get to see a genius at work, although - despite his image - it must be noted that David Lynch is a regular guy and not a weirdo nor a show biz prima donna in any way. He's just a very creative man who knows movie making inside and out. And he's my favorite director. So I am really enjoying these 30 minute docs. I've watched four so far, with six more to go.
I have started a new book, after finishing "The Outsider" by SK, and also "An Indigenous People's History Of The United States" (which ought to be in every high school), and also a book about Yale University's notorious Skull & Bones club, called "The Order" and written by Antony Sutton. That book is another must-read for anyone who wants to know how America got to be the way that it is now.
So the new book I have begun reading is called "Who REALLY Killed Martin Luther King"? by Phillip F. Nelson. The capitalizing of the word "REALLY" is in the title, as printed on the book jacket.
Mr. Nelson is the author of "LBJ, The Mastermind The JFK Assassination" and "Colossus", a sequel to the previous book, and once again in the MLK book, as I read through the first 100 pages, we are learning that of course James Earl Ray was framed as a "patsy" for the murder. This was something that many Americans knew back in the 1970s. But now, Nelson is laying out a specific framework that includes the same old devils that were sitting in the seats of highest power in America in those days.
J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon B. Johnson, two sociopaths and serial murderers.
They are the guys who "did" all three of the major assassinations of the 1960s : JFK, RFK and MLK.
They had help, of course, and with JFK it is certain that Allen Dulles played a major role.
But they employed the use of a "patsy" in every case. Lee Harvey Oswald for John F. Kennedy. James Earl Ray for Martin Luther King. And Sirhan Sirhan for Robert F. Kennedy.
Not one of those alleged "assassins" was responsible for the deaths of the associated leaders.
In every case, a major conspiracy at the highest level of American government was involved.
And now, the question is : what are we going to do about it?
I have asked this question before.
Another question might be, "do Americans care what happened 50 years ago"?
I fear that they might not, because they are seriously distracted in the Age Of Gadgets that we are now living in. Folks may not realize it, but modern society has become saturated in electronics, and folks may want to consider, in the long run, if this is a good thing for the human race.
Staring at gadgets. Tailgating in cars, as if playing a video game. Electronics everywhere, and no one knowing about history, nor caring.
Me, I do care, and in my case for reasons you know well. But also for the reason that I was part of the 1960s and 70s, before America was overtaken by corporate influence.
So that is why I read these books, as I have explained several times. I read them because The Truth Is Important.
America, with the human monster Donald Trump as president, is now in a very fragile position, and we had better step up to the plate to do something to fix it.
We have a lot of skeletons in our closet.
Germany had their skeletons exposed. So did Russia, although they still have a criminal running their show. But at least we know all about Stalin.
But in America? What do we know, officially speaking?
Not a doggone thing.
We don't know a thing, because we are still covering for the psychotic Lyndon Johnson, and for the fascist J. Edgar Hoover, and we still have their names on several major government buildings. The FBI building is still named after J. Edgar Hoover, who murdered Martin Luther King.
So we have a long way to go here in America, if we are going to avoid the fate of Nazi Germany, which was destroyed and rightfully so, and the Soviet Union, which collapsed and rightfully so.
But what about The United States of America? What will happen to it?
If I have anything to say, it will not only be saved from demons like Trump, but it will flourish and answer and atone for it's past, and it will emerge not only stronger than ever before but so strong that it can never again be broken by the likes of Trump, Hoover and Johnson.
That's my America. A great and beautiful land filled with good people, solving problems and acknowledging our past misdeeds and crimes, and setting the record straight.
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
He knows every technical detail of filmmaking as well. We get to see a genius at work, although - despite his image - it must be noted that David Lynch is a regular guy and not a weirdo nor a show biz prima donna in any way. He's just a very creative man who knows movie making inside and out. And he's my favorite director. So I am really enjoying these 30 minute docs. I've watched four so far, with six more to go.
I have started a new book, after finishing "The Outsider" by SK, and also "An Indigenous People's History Of The United States" (which ought to be in every high school), and also a book about Yale University's notorious Skull & Bones club, called "The Order" and written by Antony Sutton. That book is another must-read for anyone who wants to know how America got to be the way that it is now.
So the new book I have begun reading is called "Who REALLY Killed Martin Luther King"? by Phillip F. Nelson. The capitalizing of the word "REALLY" is in the title, as printed on the book jacket.
Mr. Nelson is the author of "LBJ, The Mastermind The JFK Assassination" and "Colossus", a sequel to the previous book, and once again in the MLK book, as I read through the first 100 pages, we are learning that of course James Earl Ray was framed as a "patsy" for the murder. This was something that many Americans knew back in the 1970s. But now, Nelson is laying out a specific framework that includes the same old devils that were sitting in the seats of highest power in America in those days.
J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon B. Johnson, two sociopaths and serial murderers.
They are the guys who "did" all three of the major assassinations of the 1960s : JFK, RFK and MLK.
They had help, of course, and with JFK it is certain that Allen Dulles played a major role.
But they employed the use of a "patsy" in every case. Lee Harvey Oswald for John F. Kennedy. James Earl Ray for Martin Luther King. And Sirhan Sirhan for Robert F. Kennedy.
Not one of those alleged "assassins" was responsible for the deaths of the associated leaders.
In every case, a major conspiracy at the highest level of American government was involved.
And now, the question is : what are we going to do about it?
I have asked this question before.
Another question might be, "do Americans care what happened 50 years ago"?
I fear that they might not, because they are seriously distracted in the Age Of Gadgets that we are now living in. Folks may not realize it, but modern society has become saturated in electronics, and folks may want to consider, in the long run, if this is a good thing for the human race.
Staring at gadgets. Tailgating in cars, as if playing a video game. Electronics everywhere, and no one knowing about history, nor caring.
Me, I do care, and in my case for reasons you know well. But also for the reason that I was part of the 1960s and 70s, before America was overtaken by corporate influence.
So that is why I read these books, as I have explained several times. I read them because The Truth Is Important.
America, with the human monster Donald Trump as president, is now in a very fragile position, and we had better step up to the plate to do something to fix it.
We have a lot of skeletons in our closet.
Germany had their skeletons exposed. So did Russia, although they still have a criminal running their show. But at least we know all about Stalin.
But in America? What do we know, officially speaking?
Not a doggone thing.
We don't know a thing, because we are still covering for the psychotic Lyndon Johnson, and for the fascist J. Edgar Hoover, and we still have their names on several major government buildings. The FBI building is still named after J. Edgar Hoover, who murdered Martin Luther King.
So we have a long way to go here in America, if we are going to avoid the fate of Nazi Germany, which was destroyed and rightfully so, and the Soviet Union, which collapsed and rightfully so.
But what about The United States of America? What will happen to it?
If I have anything to say, it will not only be saved from demons like Trump, but it will flourish and answer and atone for it's past, and it will emerge not only stronger than ever before but so strong that it can never again be broken by the likes of Trump, Hoover and Johnson.
That's my America. A great and beautiful land filled with good people, solving problems and acknowledging our past misdeeds and crimes, and setting the record straight.
See you in church in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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