Life as an Outline In my story of several days ago I wrote of the sense of end of days as we approach yet another decade turning point. That got me thinking about the beginning of decades and what they have tended to portend. As I have reflected, I have found that there does, indeed, seem to be a pattern of optimism and new beginnings that accompany the start of a new decade. This may…
The Danger of Republics If you are a bunch of people who want to band together for common purpose, you need a few things, according to sociologists. You need a legal and economic system, in addition to a political system. I think of these as the big three, but there are certainly other cultural or social systems, but with the big three you’re off to a good start. They must also be woven together in…
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? In 1969, at the end of what seemed like a very long decade that began with great optimism and economic strength, the world was drifting into what would become the era of the stagflation of the 1970’s. We had shaken off all of our dreams of the pie-eyed sixties with Woodstock and the Apollo 11 moon landing. We were the racing dog that had caught the mechanical rabbit. We stood…
Screening Screeners You’ve heard me mention going to a list of premiers and getting the opportunity to see many of today’s greatest stars on stage. So far, we have managed to get seats in the front row for every premier we’ve attended so we feel like we’ve gotten up close and personal with Rene Zellweger, Danny Boyle, Richard Curtis, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Ray Romano, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Tom…
Wearing Your Underwear on the Outside Yesterday, an immigrant brought to this country at a toddler with his twin brother and who has spent the past twenty years as an officer and gentleman in the U.S. Army (as has his twin brother) was maliciously and wantonly accused by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee of being a disloyal possible double agent for Ukraine. Why was this accomplished and highly decorated war veteran and…
The Righteousness of Failure I watched a screener last night that my wife gets as a member of the SAG/AFTRA Nominating Committee. It’s the movie called Dark Waters starring Mark Ruffalo and Anne Hathaway and I have been seeing trailers of it lately, so I was anxious to see it. It comes nineteen years after Erin Brockovich showed the world the power of class action suits against corporate polluters. This excellent new movie has a…
Cat on a Curtain A metaphor I have enjoyed using for many years is that of a cat on a curtain. We can all envisage a scared and jittery cat jumping up to cling to a sheer curtain and digging its claws into the flimsy fabric with its unsupported draping flow. It is an image of utter fear combined with a very insecure foundation of support for the wary feline. The metaphor conjures an…
Memory Lapse Yes, Ambassador Gordon Sondland forgot he had said this and that, that he had done this and that and that he had called President Trump from a Kiev restaurant and then admitted to embassy staffers that Trump cared only about his own political goals in Ukraine. Yes, Trump doesn’t seem to remember what he said about this or that or in whatever formal response to the Special Counsel he may or may…
Sunshine Came Softly In 1966 I was twelve and had just moved from Bitter cold Wisconsin to bitter cold and snowy Maine, all in the month of February. Donovan, the folk/jazz/psychedelic/rock/pop singer from Scotland was breaking into the United States music scene with his Sunshine Superman album. The strange and lilting voice of the Highlander has always struck me as the quintessential voice of the Sixties. Maybe it was the cadence or the melody. …
The Ferrari Effect Last week I wrote a story about cancer. It used a little movie called The Art of Racing in the Rain to develop the theme that life is fragile and fleeting and that everyone needs to learn how to operate under the inclement conditions of life. The story is told through a golden retriever named Enzo, as in Enzo Ferrari. And sure enough, the main protagonist ends up becoming a test track…