Editorial Cartoons from 2009

From Slate.com - A slideshow of Slate's top editorial cartoons of 2009.  I responded to the following ones particularly.

Julie and Julia

My sister gave me a DVD of "Julie and Julia" this year, and I just finished watching it.  What did I take from it?

1.  Meryl Streep is always fully the character she is playing.  She's an excellent actress.  I've read that people who know her say she's a down to earth, friendly lady as herself also.  Maybe I could put together a Meryl Streep movie marathon.

2.  Julia Child seems like a fun, interesting lady.  It makes me curious to read her posthumously published memoir, "My Life in France".

3.  Amy Adams is a pleausure to watch.  I loved the movie "Enchanted" because she was...well, enchanting.  I haven't seen her in anything else - at least where I knew it was her.

4.  Even though I liked cooking shows, and I could have seen Julia Child's shows while growing up - I didn't.  If I could recreate my thoughts at the time, I imagine I thought this was a show for people who actually like to eat.  I don't get pleasure from eating food the way Julia Child did.

5.  Blogging really is a self-centered thing to do.  It's a public diary for no reason.  I've thought about this before and I think I'll keep it on my idea shelf - why is this blogging interesting to me?  Why do I want to do it?  I want to write about it one day.

6.  In the movie, its made clear that Julia Child didn't have an appreciation for the tribute Julie Powell thought she was making to Julia.  This is from Julia Child's Wikipedia page:

In 2004, Child was the inspiration for The Julie/Julia Project, a popular cooking blog by Julie Powell that, along with Child's own memoir, in turn inspired the 2009 feature film "Julie and Julia".(Meryl Streep portrayed Child in half the narrative). Child is reported to have been unimpressed by Powell's blog, believing that Powell's determination to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year to be a stunt. Child's editor, Judith Jones, said in an interview: "Flinging around four-letter words when cooking isn’t attractive, to me or Julia. She didn’t want to endorse it. What came through on the blog was somebody who was doing it almost for the sake of a stunt. She would never really describe the end results, how delicious it was, and what she learned. Julia didn’t like what she called ‘the flimsies.’ She didn’t suffer fools, if you know what I mean."

I understand.  Julia Child had a profound love of food and cooking and France.  It gave her life color and dimension.
Julie Powell's blog turned Julia Child's deeply felt experience of food into a two dimensional project; took the life out of it.
7.  In the movie, Julie Powell described the project as a regimen.  In my last salon group we talked about the practice of spirituality in our daily lives.  And, the new year is coming.  So, I would like to create a practice or regimen for myself that I can work on for the year.  The only way to get good at something is to practice it.

Good movie for the Saturday matinee.  Thanks Sister!

Saint Augustine

I listened to a Philosophy Talk episode about Saint Augustine.  It was a fast-paced introduction for me.  The topics ranged from original sin, to just war, to church and state.  I don't have the brain capacity to quickly assimilate everything I heard, but I took particular notice of Augustine's idea (as described by the guest philosopher) that freedom is being more like God, God made us in His image, so when we have free will, we are more like God.

With that, my idea of God could be turned on its side a bit...

God CHOSE to be the creator because of his free will.

Having free will gives me (since I'm made in the image of God) the freedom to create as well.

What if God was one of us?

What if God was one of us who learned how to be truly FREE and CHOOSE his own reality, which brought forth us?

Lev Yilmaz

A lot of things have conspired in my life to make this video timely...
- I heard an interview with the author of "Good without God" on Fresh Air
- A friend's husband published a book and accompanying video; part I discusses why Christianity is not logical, which I'm still pondering.
- While looking for the Joe Sacco book "Footnotes in Gaza" at Powell's Books, I saw the book "Sunny Side Down" by Lev Yilmaz, who also created the video in this blog entry, which I found on his YouTube channel.
- During our salon chat a couple weeks ago we spent some time talking about our spiritual lives.
- It's Christmas Eve

Although I've decided to believe in a higher power, I felt a particular kinship with what Lev says from 2:19 through 2:35:

Though I don't know if I believe, I deeply understand the appeal of thinking there is something bigger than us.  Though I don't know if I believe, when I think about how long I'm going to be dead I understand the appeal of believing in an afterlife.  Though I don't know if I believe, for some reason movies about the devil always really freak me out.

I'm heartened every time I discover another kindred spirit in the world.
The media would have me believe I'm alone in a sea of madness.

Fingernails

If humans didn't evolve with fingernails, would anyone have invented the price sticker that can only be removed using a fingernail?

Miscellany

"How long till my soul gets it right?  Can any human being ever reach that kind of height?"

sometimes I can tell I've given up on this life and am storing up knowledge for my next life.

*****

Can men and women be friends?
Are you"...willing to sacrifice what you'd really love to have in order to have just a little of what you love."


*****

How can a person NOT be political?  Every choice you make every action you take is a political and personal statement about who you are, who you trust, what you seek, and why you live.  Right?

"But he has been political. It's the politics of using golf as a weapon to reap untold riches and all the other attendant privileges of fame. It's the politics of selling yourself as a trailblazing icon, while rolling your eyes at the struggles that made your ascendance possible. It's the politics of placing your brand above any and all other concerns. It's the politics of turning a blind eye to your corporate partners' malfeasance, when there is a buck to be made. This is the real teachable moment of this whole circus: if you front for the worst of the worst, don't expect anyone to have your back."  Dave Zirin at The Nation

*****

"We've gotten to the point in this country...where passing ANY bill is victory, and that's the problem.  Decisions are being made about the long term future of this country for short term political reasons and that's never a good sign."  Howard Dean on Good Morning America



*****

Joe Lieberman is a small, small man.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Twitter and FaceBook

I've tried to see their usefulness.

I've tried to feel the appeal.

It's not happening.

I can't figure out what's fun about reading other people's tweets when I can't see both sides of the conversation.

I don't feel comfortable telling other people what my 'status' is.

If people want to see my 'status' they'll keep in touch and ask me.  They don't.  So...?

I'd like drop Facebook and Twitter, but I don't.

Why?

Someday I might figure out how they can make my life better.

I tried the Internet when I had a 2400 bps dial-up modem connection and people got mad at me because my phone was busy all the time.  That was in the early 90's (?)

But, it wasn't until more recently that Google and web pages made the Internet indispensable to me.

I'm going to wait until a similar development happens with social networking.  Until then, it's not for me.

Oregon Symphony Gospel Christmas

MTF invited me some time ago to enjoy Oregon Symphony's Gospel Christmas last night.  The symphony, a 100 member choir composed of singers from local gospel choirs, rousing gospel music, and the Christmas spirit.  Great combination!

The work week was difficult for the whole company, but particularly for me on Thursday and Friday.  After work yesterday I only wanted to go home, get into bed, eat a lot of chocolate, and think about how much everyone hates me!  Ha!  I think you know where my head was at.

People who don't hate me encouraged me to buck up and go to the event.  I'm glad I did.  I forgot about my own frustrations and enjoyed the music and appreciated everything about the evening.

There was a good combination of rousing and peaceful.  At the end the crowd wanted so much more.  Unfortunately, they had not prepared any additional songs so they did the first song over again.  It was good the second time as well.  It was especially enjoyable to see everyone enjoying the music the way they wanted to.  Some stood up, some clapped, some just listened.  I did a lot of seat dancing and head bobbing along with silent clapping.

I'm grateful to MTF for inviting me, and BL for encouraging me to attend, and the participants for giving me an enjoyable experience.

I'm also grateful the expected freezing rain did not materialize.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  

Reality Bites

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Stacey Blackburn-Hoelscher, of Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan's Female Engagement Team, gives a beverage to an elderly Afghan man during a patrol in the Helmand province of Afghanistan Nov. 18, 2009. (DoD photo by Sgt. Evan Barragan, U.S. Marine Corps/Released) 


As of Saturday, at least 4367 members of the US military have died since the start of the Iraq war and at least 852 have died as a result of the Afghan war and related operations, according to the Associated Press.

The Unemployed

Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 11.3 percent in October from the revised September figure of 11.3 percent

I'm grateful to be employed.  I feel bad for those unemployed who, like me, have tried to play by the rules and do the 'right' thing to be responsible citizens.  Through no fault of their own they find themselves in a difficult position. 

The reminder I take from our current economic crisis is that the only things I control exclusively are my actions and reactions.  

I send all good wishes to each of us, particularly the unemployed, for good actions and reactions. 

Whoops - I did it again!

At the end of a long Friday work day, I wanted nothing more than to go home and relax.  Instead, my car wouldn't start.  Luckily, people were still at the office so help was at hand.  MTF's husband looked under the hood and we discovered the most battery corrosion he'd ever seen - ever.  He took me to Enterprise so I'd have transportation for the weekend.  Friday night I went shopping and spent more money.   This morning, I arranged for a tow truck to get my car from the office to the service department at my dealer.  I spoke to the mechanic and he said he'd call me later to tell me what the price will be.  I went shopping and spent a bunch of money.
I just got a call from the mechanic and he said its the most battery corrosion he's ever seen - ever.  And, the oil level was quite low.  He tried to politely say I'd not been taking very good care of the car.
Fair enough.

Here's what I'd like to say about this experience:
1.  I expected the car to show some signs of distress that would give me a clue there was a problem.  The fact that it just stopped working one day is disconcerting.

Along the same lines, I expect my body to show signs of distress to give me a clue there's a problem as well.  I hope it doesn't just decide to quit working on me one day.

My lesson is that I need to eat more fruits and vegetables, and make sure my car has the equivalent of more fruits and vegetables.

2.  Did I win the lottery?  I've been on a spending spree of late.  I'm out of control.  I'm grateful to have a job and the means to take care of myself.  I'd hate to blow it on a few months of overspending.
Could I be reacting without awareness to the release of anxiety because the economy MIGHT be on an upswing?  The key to the question is "without awareness".  I'm spending money emotionally.
I will stop.
It was much easier when I worked from home and I wasn't 'in the marketplace'.
I'll do better because I choose to be financially secure.
Besides, I think I've bought everything I could need.  I tend to buy electronics and books and DVD's.  I have enough of all of it to last me a good long time.
Except I'm going to buy Season Five of 'Lost' on Tuesday.
Then, I'll be done.
Oh - and I might need a couple more gifts for my niece and nephew for Christmas.
Then, I'll really be done.
Really.

Afghanistan and Barack Obama

Full text of Obama speech...

I listened to Obama's speech on the radio while driving home from work today.  I thought it was a good speech.  The framework of the speech made sense to me - the ideas were laid out in a logical way.  I think he made all the points I would hope to have heard.

At the end, I liked that he encouraged us to believe we were embarking on a distinctly American mission.  I felt inspired.

Yet, I'm not sure this plan will work.  I hope it does, but it relies on the Afghanistan government and citizenry to do exactly as we'd expect them to.  We have no control or authority over this.

The people of Afghanistan have to contend with realities of daily life so different than our own (corruption, poppy production, tribal affiliations to name a few) I wonder if we can impose our own will on how they resolve what we've decided is their problem.

I'm not clear what the Afghani people think is their problem.

Is it the Taliban?  Is it violence?  Is it Al Qaeda?

Is the United States goal equivalent to Afghanistan's goal?  Are our enemies the same enemy that Afghanistan sees?

I don't get it.

I suggest a Gandhi inspired strategy of civil disobedience by the Afghani people.  When they create change for themselves, they'll be willing to fight for it.

My suggestion implies that the end goal for Afghanistan people is a country like mine.

Tragic

Left to Right:  Mark Renninger, Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, Greg Richards

Renninger, 39, with 13 years of law-enforcement experience, is survived by his wife and three children.
Griswold, 40, a 14-year veteran officer, is survived by her husband and two children.
Owens, 37, who spent 12 years in law enforcement, is survived by a former wife and a daughter.
Richards, 42, who had eight years of law-enforcement experience, is survived by his wife and three children.

Details

*****
I'm so sorry for the families of these four officers, and the law enforcement community at large.  I'm filled with respect and gratitude for the bravery police officers show on a daily basis on behalf of strangers; on behalf of me.  Who would I be without the feeling of safety I enjoy because police officers are on duty?

Police officers have special obligations and a heightened level of responsibility is required.  They, more than most of us, have to live to a higher standard of professionalism and ethics because of the power their badge represents.  As a society we ask much of them.
I suspect the large majority live up to our high expectations. 

As a country, I wish we offerred better support to our police men and women.  We could support them with consistent and well written laws, a court system that follows sentencing requirements or is 'judicial' in passing out meaningful sentences, and a penal system that helps offenders see a different path for their life. 

Yay - I finished!

I completed NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last night!  Final word count 50,587!

Here is what I learned:
1.  I can finish something.
2.  I don't want to write a novel.  Not now.  Maybe someday.  Not now.
3.  Keep my fingers flying - over the keyboard.  If a sentence doesn't sound right, type it over and over making small word adjustments here and there until the truth of what I'm trying to say is reflected in the sentence.
4.  I use pronouns way too much.  'It's' is my favorite word.  Blech.  Substitute for the more descriptive detail, or change the sentence structure entirely.  This tip works well in conjunction with #3.
5.  I may continue writing a stream of consciousness journal because it helps me find the core of truth related to whatever wacky idea is rumbling around in my head at the moment.  However, writing 50000 words in one month leads to a lot of repetition and emptiness.  I'll consider 30000 words a month, with an option to change it whenever and however I want.

I'm glad I started NaNoWriMo, I'm glad I finished NaNoWriMo.

Attack of the Virus!

This link is to a story on NPR (with video) that features animation of a virus attacking our bodies.  Cool.

1968

Me and my sister

Hello Saturday Morning

When I was quite young, my mother had three prints of Degas ballerina paintings on a rectangle 'canvas' with light blue fabric over it hanging on the wall in my bedroom.  This was one of the prints.  It was the theme of my bedroom.  I took ballet class one year when I was about 6 or so.  Frankly, I was too lazy - even at that tender age - and too skittish about being in public to pursue it beyond that.  In fact, when it came time for our recital, I got upset and chickened out and all I did, in my pretty yellow tutu, was walk the flowers out to the dance teacher at the end.  Or, maybe I did one dance as well.  I remember looking up at tall people trying to make me feel better and suggesting I carry the flowers out at the end.  But, there are two pictures of me in the ballet recital - one during a dance, and one bringing out the flowers.  I don't remember that whole story.  Maybe I'll ask my Mom when I next talk to her.

More Kate and Cary in "Holiday"

I decided to watch another Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant movie this morning.  I don't know how I missed "Holiday" all these years.  Its another 1938 movie made after "Bringing Up Baby".  Its a charming movie that will never go out of style because the topic is forever timely.  The themes or topics are:  money, is that all there is?  What's life for?  Freedom vs Conformity, Obligation vs Individual Desire.  What do you give up for love?  Big ideas.

I loved Cary Grant's character, Johnnie Case - He's a nonconformist who's wants to be happy more than he wants to fit in.  And, he enjoys life.
Katherine Hepburn's character, Linda Seton,  has always been stuck in a conformist cage yearning to be free.
Excellent work by both actors.
The movie maintained a nice balance between instrospection and entertainment.
I enjoyed it; its more my style than "Bringing up Baby" (though as I suspected, I'm liking it more in retrospect...there WERE a lot of funny lines in that movie).


 

Bringing Up Baby - Classic Screwball Comedy

I just finished watching "Bringing Up Baby" starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, directed by Howard Hawks.

I expected to enjoy this screwball comedy from 1938 because I've enjoyed them before (It Happened One Night, The Awful Truth, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, His Girl Friday, My Favorite Wife, and The Philadelphia Story).

There were humorous moments throughout and the chemistry between Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant is fun. I think I'll enjoy the movie more in retrospect because this screwball comedy went just a bit over the top for me.

Unfortunately, I found myself irritated by the excessive screwball antics in this movie. Everything that happened could have been easily solved if people had any consideration for other people, or communicated clearly, or not been so concerned with appearances and being overly polite. Its hard to tell whether the screenwriter's drove the plot based on those attitudes of the day and the characters they've created, or if, subversively, the plot is driven by the idea that women manipulate men (Susan Vance trying to get David Huxley to marry her). Either way, I'm a bit offended by it. (And I'm not even going to think too much about the animals. Did they have animal welfare back then?)

After the movie I listened to a few minutes of Peter Bogdanovich's commentary on the movie. In the commentary, Bogdanovich references an interview he did with Howard Hawks at least partly about this movie (he also mimics Howard Hawks voice).
I learned an important thing in that commentary - Howard Hawks said there was one fault of the screenplay and its that there were no 'normal' characters. Every single person was a little wacky because they ALL jumped to conclusions and wouldn't listen to anybody and kept things secret. He felt that if he'd had at least one character who was normal - even if it was a secondary character such as the Constable or the Gardener - it wouldn't have been as over the top.
The movie didn't do all that well at the box office in its time, and that might explain it.
It does for me. Now I feel I can appreciate the movie more because I understand the problem. Phew. I love Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn and I'd hate to not like this movie.

Here are some excerpts from Eric Barker's review on Shotgun Reviews:

"...Working closely with Hawks and the story’s original writer, Hagar Wilde, Nichols turned Bringing Up Baby into the silliest of odysseys, a topsy-turvy fantasy of modern courtship and sex where everything is also something else: a dinosaur skeleton (read: extinct ideals) represents a man’s life’s work, it’s only missing the final “bone” that would complete the assembly, a bone he cherishes but which keeps getting lost; an uninhibited heiress, who should embody the financial stability and material resources the man desperately needs for his work, becomes chaos made flesh, the utter destruction of identity in the whirlwind of attraction; and a wandering leopard named Baby is the prickly and troublesome equivalent of a newborn, the inevitable, disruptive offspring of the couple’s forbidden desires."

"In particular, the film’s madcap heiress Susan is an unqualified terror — one unforgettable sight gag makes plain that she’s more dangerous than any wild leopard. She is wantonly destructive in her pursuit of the mild mannered David, while her ditziness, which might be charming on an actress less talented and eccentric than Katharine Hepburn, begins to assume a very calculating, garish fit. In fact, Nichols tailored the role specifically for Hepburn, inspired by watching her ill-fated romance with John Ford a couple of years before on the set of Mary of Scotland. Hepburn was fully aware of this and she hides nothing in her characterization, including Susan’s pathological neediness and the very real aggression behind everything she says and does. It’s an incredible star performance, patently uninterested in appearing chic or lovable, every moment placed in service of telling a most ridiculous story."

"Cary Grant had only just become a top box-office attraction, in Leo McCarey’s comedy of post-nuptial errors The Awful Truth (1937), and he was clearly ready to cut loose after years of toil in films that made little use of his talent. With Baby he proved himself a sublime comedian, equally adept at both slapstick and rapid-fire one-liners, an indefatigable master of timing and inflection. Just as unconcerned as Hepburn with courting audience sympathy, he cajoles and seduces instead, the most dashing of nerds in a pair of Harold Lloyd glasses (see Notes), falling on both his face and ass with equal aplomb, turning exasperation and even anger into a special, manic grace."

"Hawks directed one-and-all with the decree to make it fast no matter what was happening, infusing every scene with his own brand of overlapping dialogue, an almost musical style in which everyone seems to be talking at once, even though the important lines still get heard. It feels theatrical at first, and it is, but it is also refreshing and exhilarating, Hawks drawing attention to the way people actually communicate in the real world, which is too often not at all. Mistake piles upon mistake, calamity upon calamity, and all could be averted if only the characters would just stop and listen to each other for a second. But no one ever listens to anyone else in this film, which makes it more realistic than most dramas if you ask me, certainly more so than the average contemporary romantic comedy, a cacophonous, rolling wreckage of a movie bounding happily toward its final, astounding, knee-slapping crash."