AS YOU ALL KNOW

Over 50 degrees this morning and already down to 19 tonight and going down to 5 degrees. And there are still so many on the right who think the temperature drop proves "global warming" is "a hoax" because it is sometimes very cold, but fail to mention or even seem to notice that in the same twelve hour period (let alone twenty-four or more) the temperature can be the highest ever for a January winter day and the lowest for that same day!

If it talks like an idiot (or liar), and writes like an idiot (or liar), and identifies with other idiots (or liars), it's probably an idiot (or liar).

[I don't like calling anyone an "idiot" but I was tired and cold and couldn't think of a less offensive term to use for those who continue to try and frame "global warming" and the resultant climate change as "a hoax" etc.]

TWENTY ONE POETS

An old friend, artist John Shaw, made a little film of twenty-one poets reading or reciting, a poem of theirs into his camera and recently put it up on Vimeo (it's called TWENTY ONE POETS, without the hyphen). He filmed me for it I think in 2012 or maybe even 2011.

Anyway it shows I was still recovering from my brain operation and not as quick as I was before it, and my memory wasn't as easily accessible, so if I look a little unprepared (I could have had just one photo for each decade/stanza and on stiffer paper, and at least run my fingers through my hair, which is the only combing of it I've ever done since the 'sixties, and used cue cards so my brain wouldn't glitch like it does at one point, and worn a nicer shirt, etc. etc.) blame it on that. (And on the other hand, it captures a real moment and the truth of that moment, with one of the points of the poem being about aging anyway, so ultimately it couldn't have been more real.)

Although some of these poets are old friends and favorites and others I was unaware of until this film, I think John did a great job of selecting, filming and editing them, making all the poetry seem relevant to the moment, and often not just engaging but entertaining. See what you think.

Twenty One Poets from john shaw on Vimeo.

I BELIEVE IN LOVE, ALFIE

I went to a memorial service this afternoon for a beautiful young woman, barely into her twenties, who passed suddenly. It was a packed church, several hundred there, and as the preacher said, a "celebration of a life" more than a sad occasion, though it was a very sad occasion.

The young woman's father was a drummer, and he and a tight little jazz combo played some music, the main song, along with several singers, being Bob Marley's "One Love" (I think that's the name of it, but you know the song—"One life, one love, let's get together and feel alright") which was an indication of the tone of the event and of the grieving father's response to it.

But after it was all over and I was wiping my tears away and people were leaving, a lone organist sat down at the altar and played, one note at a time, with one finger, a melody that was very familiar but I couldn't believe it was what I thought it was: the theme song to the movie Alfie. But it was. I asked the preacher, Who made that choice? And he said the deceased's father. Which made me go home and look it up to remember the lyrics to see why he chose it.

The movie version was Celia Black's, but the best versions were Dionne Warwick's and Nancy Wilson's. I chose a live version by Warwick from Youtube (that's Michael Caine's photo behind her, he played the role of "Alfie—I don't know who the Asian woman is at the end or why she's in there), but am printing the lyrics (by Hal David to Burt Bacharach's melody, with the latter declaring it his favorite of all his songs and the lyrics in his opinion the best of any song, which is a stretch, but damn they are good, better than I remembered so that's why I'm sharing them here) below it so you can see how beautiful a choice it was for a beautiful young woman who brought love to a lot of friends and family.




"What's it all about, Alfie? Is it just for the moment we live? What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie? Are we meant to take more than we give? Or are we meant to be kind? And if only fools are kind, Alfie, then I guess it's wise to be cruel. And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie, what will you lend on an old golden rule? As sure as I believe there's a heaven above, Alfie, I know there's something much more. Something even non-believers can believe in. I believe in love, Alfie. Without true love we just exist, Alfie. Until you find the love you've missed you're nothing, Alfie. When you walk let your heart lead the way and you'll find love any day, Alfie."

A GORGEOUS WINTER DAY

Got up and shoveled the walks of this old house my apartment's in and loved it. For me, there's nothing like leaning on a snow shovel on a bright sunny winter morning after a big snowstorm. And fortunately, as all the weather experts predicted, it's powdery snow so it's relatively easy to shovel, even the six or eight inches we seemed to have gotten.

The "profound quiet" (as my friend Mindy called it) of these kinds of mornings always makes me think this is what it must have been like in the 19th Century. No cars out yet, almost no people, etc. The way the sun was hitting the snow made it sparkle and because not too many people or cars were out yet the snow was pure white, even where it had been plowed!

Just a gorgeous winter day, for which I am grateful.

(Can you believe, though, that the right-wingers, including the stalker who fortunately I can now keep off this blog, actually used this storm and the recent cold temperatures as some sort of proof that the whole "global warming" issue is a hoax! without ever referencing the fact that a little over a month ago, November went down as the warmest IN OUR RECORDED HISTORY!, and seemingly unaware that scientists use the averages not the sole instance to determine warming which is ongoing worldwide, oh well….)

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

So, watched DALLAS BUYERS CLUB tonight and though impressed with some of the performances: mainly Matthew McConaughy's and Jared Leto's (who steals the show for a few of his early scenes) I was a little disappointed. Interesting story not so well told or directed.

Jennifer Garner often looked stressed and confused, her talent wasted, in my opinion, except for a moment here and there. Leto was incredible in his transformation into a—not sure of the proper technical term for a man who dresses and makes himself up as a woman, and very successfully, but obviously hasn't had the hormone treatments etc. to make his body more female.

And McConaughy's performance dominates the movie, since it's his character's more or less true story. But his physical transformation at times was distracting in the way DiNiro's was for me in RAGING BULL, reminding me too often that this was an actor who had gone to drastic lengths to in DiNiro's case add many pounds and in McConaghy's to lose them.

But he did a great job in the face of some terrible script writing and directing and editing, for my taste. There were scenes that seemed to be all exposition, or tedious technical information not dramatized just stated, and many missed opportunities. The whole transformation from intolerant immature bigot to a more compassionate and tolerant man was sporadic, often confused and not very well dramatized, with the exception of a few exceptional scenes.

Sometimes I couldn't figure out what the moviemakers intended the audience to be thinking about the characters. Though they often made it too obvious what they wanted the audience to be feeling about them or specific scenes. And some of the cuts made me feel that there must have been a lot of scenes that never made it into the film that may have explained the scene jumps better.

It had its moments that made me dig it (the scene where Leto's character and McCounaghy's embrace brought tears to my eyes, and other scenes between them made me laugh, as did McCounaghy's brief sex scene with a fellow AIDs sufferer) and be glad I saw it. But I feel a much better and more impactful film could have been made from the same material that would have better served the actors' efforts.

AMERICAN HUSTLE

My friends who've seen AMERICAN HUSTLE either love it or hate it. After watching it tonight I can see why they both feel that way. I pretty much loved it. Christian Bale deserves an Oscar nomination for his performance, his best yet, and in any other year I'd say he should win it. But against the lead male performances in THE BUTLER and especially TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE I believe he shouldn't win it because the latter film, if there were any justice, should win almost every award. But I doubt it will. In fact a lot of of the smart money is on AMERICAN HUSTLE

But though it is a fast paced exhilarating ride of an entertaining film, mostly because of the performances, especially Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, it's just that, an entertaining escape. Despite some deep ideas about the challenges to living an honest life somewhere embedded in some of the story line and dialogue, ultimately it skims the surface for the laughs and the sexy surprises and the ride.

I actually knew one of the figures involved in the ABSCAM scandal, he was a friend of my father's because my father was an Essex County Democratic Party functionary in the years preceding the entrapment of the Congressman and Senator the sting the movie's more or less based on sent to jail. And I have to admit, having Jeremy Renner play an Italian Jersey mayor as the fictional figure representing the real victims of the sting bugged me.  His over the top hair etc.  But his performance grew on me and I began to appreciate it eventually.

No such problem with Adams and Cooper and Lawrence, and especially Bale. His fictional character was so believable and engaging, despite his glaring faults, I could have watched another movie with that character in it right after I finished this one! David O. Russell gets some credit as director for the pace and some original set ups and most of the casting and etc.  But the reason to watch the flick are the lead performances.  However, if AMERICAN HUSTLE beats out TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE for the Best Picture Oscar, or Best Lead Actor or Best Lead Actress, it'll be jive in my opinion.

HAPPY

May 2014 be happy, healthy, loving, peaceful, creative and productive for all.  And may all our moments be as joyful and lively and rhythmic and satisfying as this movie moment from the past (if you watch it to the end you'll see the only dance partner Astaire ever had who was his equal in the basics of tapping, others were great or better partners in many ways, but Eleanor Powell could tap out that rhythm, sister).