Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Today
It's snowy and cold and windy in the northeast today. A fitting end to a strange year. It's a bit insulating as long as you're indoors, so that's kind of nice for a day like this. On the other hand, I must venture forth for groceries (one's guests and oneself must ingest at least a bit of something other than good wine and cheese) and, later, to spend the evening with good friends.

To anyone who chances by,
and to my blogging friends,
and to my family (especially t3ccitw),
I wish the best of years
in the up and coming not-quite-prime-number 2009.

Labels: ,

Permalink | 6 comment(s) | posted by jau at 11:45 AM

Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Wonderful actors
Laura listed her 20 top favorite actors and it's a yummy list. Worth a visit to the post just to gaze on the gorgeous and evocative faces. Here's her annotated list - I've crossed out the ones I'd change : Cary Grant (he's simply the best), Tyrone Power Humphrey Bogart (how could she leave Bogie off - in his character-driven roles there's no one better), Dana Andrews Gary Cooper, Robert Montgomery (one of my all-time favorites), William Powell (ditto), Joel McCrea (ditt0), Robert Taylor (usually ditto but not the westerns), Robert Mitchum, Richard Widmark, Ray Milland, James Stewart, Stewart Granger Fred MacMurray (early, not once he became silly), John Wayne Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly Errol Flynn (in his not snazzed-up films), Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Charlton Heston Walter Huston, Ward Bond Ronald Coleman / Lawrence Olivier / Raymond Massey (trade-off between them), Fredric March, Randolph Scott (not listed in any particular order). I'll watch almost anything most of these guys are in and thank heavens for TCM!

Labels: , ,

Permalink | 1 comment(s) | posted by jau at 12:10 AM

Monday, December 29, 2008
Anniversaries
It's Marianne Faithfull's birthday. She's awesome. Listen to something by her today.

Labels: ,

Permalink | 0 comment(s) | posted by jau at 2:03 PM

Out with the old, in with the new
It's almost fifty hours until 2009 and if the year can start anew then so can I. Heck, the country's government will be new in three weeks, too. Not that I'm disavowing anything I said previously (archived here) but I need a change if I'm going to keep at this blogging - and I'd really like to. I'm not entirely sure how I want to change things so the appearance won't change much (at least for now) and anyway goodness knows it took me long enough to arrive at this look.

I'm going to clear out bunches of the links since I doubt anyone but me uses them anyway. I use them like browser bookmarks and they'll be available on the archived blog if I must have them and I won't clear out the ones I use most of the time.

Anyway, it's a year with an almost prime number - okay, a number is either prime or not but 2009 is not a prime number only by virtue of being divisible by 1 and 7 and 7 is richly prime so I'm going with "almost prime" and purists can yell all they want.

So: so long and bye-bye to 2008 and onward to 2009.

Labels: , ,

Permalink | 0 comment(s) | posted by jau at 1:49 PM

A new year . . . .
This is now an archive. The current blog is still muttering by myself.

Labels:

Permalink | 0 comment(s) | posted by jau at 9:24 AM

Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Cancelled tv shows
In case you're curious, you can pretty much figure out what tv shows will be cancelled by checking my level of enthusiasm. Well, not a hundred percent of the time but very nearly. Apparently American Idol's lead-in was stronger than my enthusiasm-of-death for House because it's still doing well even though I've liked it all along. I do hope I haven't jinxed the second season of Damages, however.

I have to wonder what the producers' reasoning is when they give us strong and interesting characters who become part of our lives . . . and then they yank them away without warning or time to prepare. After all, you'd know if you're coming to the end of a book.

I may have inherited this curse from my father. We both enjoyed the Robert Urich "Spenser" series - especially the Hawk characterization. And we both liked Tom Selleck's version of the Jesse Stone novels by Robert Parker. Last year I was a fan of James Woods' Shark mostly because I loved the relationship between Shark and his daughter, difficult and loving and layered. In shows like these, central plots may be clichéd and/or silly but none have clichéd or predictable characters.

The current example is this and last year's Eli Stone. It had some simplistic flaws and even a few wince-worthy moments but it made an attempt to mix drama with humor and even outrageousness now and then, even occasional flamboyance. Watching it was a lot of fun. Who'd have thought George Michael could be charming as a recurrent figment of someone's imagination? Who'd have known that Victor Garber could break into song and dance right after delivering a serious legal argument and be terrific fun? Or that Katie Holmes could be a rousing song and dance girl herself? All that was true, however, and yet last night appears to have been the final aired episode. No warning to the writers so they could wrap up story lines. No warning to viewers so we could wrap up our feelings. It's as if a whole bunch of acquaintances were just vaporized. It's unfair to them, and to us.

Labels: , ,

Permalink | 0 comment(s) | posted by jau at 10:37 PM

If HRC, why not CKS?
Not sure why Caroline is being reviled as far as the senate seat. When Hillary moved to NY and ran for that office, her only qualifications were that she had lived in the White House (as did Caroline) and been married to the President (Caroline was his daughter) and been an advocate for health care reform (different cause but similar advocacy). Caroline brings the connectedness of a Kennedy which is good and bad news, of course, but that's like Hillary, too. Caroline's previous reluctance to be involved in politics might even mean that she's only getting into it now because her heart is finally leading her where her head probably still tells her to stay away (or it vice versa?). Anyway, I'm not sure why there's any question.

P.S. Doesn't playing Beg-The-Governor almost guarantee unseemly and/or untoward behavior (cf. Illinois)? Shouldn't replacing a statewide elected official be done with a special election?

Labels: ,

Permalink | 4 comment(s) | posted by jau at 9:11 AM

Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Jolly Boots of Santa
This is a bit disrespectful and loony but it's awfully funny - especially if you're not entirely enamored with the insane buybuybuy suffocation. Amazingly, it airs on Nickelodeon where it can alert impressionable little minds to the dangers of Santa adulation. Camille Paglia describes this cartoon as an enjoyable mix of "Brave New World" and "Metropolis". Yes, Virginia, pop culture can rise to the occasion and tease itself and do it well.

Labels: ,

Permalink | 0 comment(s) | posted by jau at 9:42 AM

Sunday, December 7, 2008
Last night's movie
Watched "Two Men Went to War" last night. We had four dvds from Netflix - a virtual plethora of possibilities - but two were dreadful, basically unwatchable. Kings in Grass Castles proves that angry Irish farmers emigrating to Australia are annoying, uninteresting and not entertaining, even if they might have been historically interesting. Peep Show was billed as terrific by viewers who'd liked The Office and Black Adder but we found it entirely unfunny and, worst of all, mean-spirited.

Two Men, on the other hand, was a surprise. (Spoiler alert : if you want no details, read no further....) This is the true story of two British army dentists who decide, in 1942, to take the war (World War II) into their own hands. They sail a very small boat to France armed with some grenades and wire cutters and, most importantly, a lot of gumption. They manage to make two German transport trains crash into each other (although they don't know it) and then they knock over part of a radar station before they hightail it back to England. They're almost court-martialled as deserters but Winston Churchill himself is so pleased with them that, instead, they are awarded the Military Cross along with a brief absent-without-leave sentence. Definitely an intriguing pair and a nice film for a Saturday evening.

The older of the stars of Two Men is Kenneth Cranham. He was married to Diana Quick (who was subsequently and for a long time has been Bill Nighy's partner and mother of their child) and was Helen Mirren's companion for many years (and father of their child). If his onscreen personna conveyed a sort of rugged sex appeal, I guess I must say it's borne out by his biography. The other star, Leo Bill, a mere 28 years old, played his part with a bit of goofiness that I could have done without, but he held his own well. The real character went on to become mayor of Newcastle-on-Tyne, interestingly enough.

Labels: , ,

Permalink | 0 comment(s) | posted by jau at 9:57 AM

Friday, December 5, 2008
A Cradle Song
Sleep, Sleep, beauty bright
Dreaming o'er the joys of night.
Sleep, Sleep: in they sleep
Little sorrows sit & weep.

Sweet Babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace
Secret joys & secret smiles
Little pretty infant wiles.

As thy softest limbs I feel
Smiles as of the morning steal
O'er thy cheek & o'er thy breast
Where thy little heart does rest.

O, the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep.
When thy little heart does wake,
Then the dreadful lightnings break.

From thy cheek & from thy eye
O'er the youthful harvests nigh
Infant wiles & infant smiles
Heaven & Earth of peace beguiles.
--William Blake

Labels: , ,

Permalink | 1 comment(s) | posted by jau at 11:26 AM

Anniversary
Talk about an important day. Many children, movie makers, movie goers and people in general should celebrate today and honor the 107th birthday of Walt Disney (the man, not the studio).

Labels: ,

Permalink | 0 comment(s) | posted by jau at 6:28 AM

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Chocolate for coughs
I have recently been reliably informed that chocolate may help relieve intense coughs.  How magnificent is that?!  It's meant to be dark chocolate, of course.  Here are a couple of links about this: here and here.  Even the sometimes skeptical Dr Weil says it might work (here).

As someone who has always gagged on cough syrups (have you ever tried Buckley's?!?), I am thrilled to learn that there are even chocolate cough drops such as this.

Everyone seems to agree that efficacy depends on it being good quality chocolate with 70-80% cocoa content.  I think I can bear up under that strain.

Labels: ,

Permalink | 1 comment(s) | posted by jau at 12:59 PM

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
New person
The number of my descendants increased by one on November 22nd. There are now 3 cutest children in the world and since, conveniently "three" begins with the same letter as "two" I can continue to refer with amusement and joy to TTCCITW. I am fortunate indeed.

Some of those with whom the new little one shares his day are Erasmus, Thomas Cook, George Eliot, John Nance Garner, André Gide, Charles de Gaulle, Erik Lindahl, Hoagy Carmichael, Benjamin Britten, Robert Vaughn, Terry Gilliam, Tina Weymouth, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mariel Hemingway and Scarlett Johansson. So he'll be clever, verbal, gorgeous, funny and powerful, right? Cool.

Labels: ,

Permalink | 2 comment(s) | posted by jau at 7:20 AM