North by Northwest

This 1959 Albert Hitchcock movie is one of his best. Starring Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill and Eva Marie Saint as Eve Kendall this is a mistaken identity plot gone far and long.

Roger Thornhill is a ad executive who as he puts in supports a mother, two ex wives and several bartenders. As he dines one day a waiter asks for a Mr Kaplan in the room. At the same time Thornhill asks the waiter to come over prompting two gentleman to confirm in their minds that he is Kaplan.

As he goes to make a phone call he is grabbed and whisked away. Over the course of the next two hours we see a plot take Thornhill from a meeting with those who assume who they think he is, a perilous journey down a winding seaside road, The United Nations, a ticketless train trip, an art auction in Chicago and ends at Mt Rushmore. This is truly a seat of your pants movie.

Grant is superb, playing a nonplussed ad exec thrust into the role of superspy caught between both the good guys and the bad guys with a romance adding to the mix.

in Hitchcock's cameo in this movie he portrays a man who misses the bus in the opening credits. He did not miss the bus on this movie. Four stars.

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

I am not sure about this book. I picked it up because the coverlet seemed like an interesting story but at 600 pages was not convinced at all that it would be worth the investment. The book starts slowly as we are introduced to various characters in the book. These include Carl an upper member of the Seabrook academy for boys who is a drug dealing lunatic to Skippy a second year who is small for his size and lives with a heavy burden.

The main character if there is one is Skippy. Several faculty members including the acting Principal known as the Automator and Harold a young teacher who 10 years ago had been graduating from Seabrook. Howard the Coward as he is known is a figure most of us can relate too. He has what he wanted but then wants more and in the process loses it all.

Skippy's roommate Ruprecht is a Science spewing genius. It is noted he raises the Seabrook test scores 4 percent all by himself. Ruprecht is obsessed with string theory and unfortunately donuts which make him larger and larger. His dream is to go to Stanford.

Skippy falls in love with a day student at St Brigid's academy which is placed conveniently across the quad from his dorm room. Most of the girls at St Brigid's have been ensnared in a diet pill popping scheme run by Carl and his friend Barry. Skippy gets caught in a triangle in which he is used for cover for some very grown up activities.

As you can see there is alot going on. Still the book takes a decidedly darker turn in the last third. There we find crippled teachers getting students drunk, taking advantage of them, and in the name of protecting the school getting away with it. We see Lorelei, the girl of Skippy's dreams reduced to an anorexic mental patient and we see Ruprecht obsess over how he could have saved Skippy if he had not been so self absorbed.

The unanswered question is what teenager is not self absorbed. Indeed what person?

A good book, a bit of a haunting book. I am still undecided on how good I think it was.

Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan

I could not sleep the other night and my ipad was dead so the only choice I had for music was my phone. Luckily I did have a little Bob Dylan on my phone. Listening to this album I was reminded again how very special it was.

Dylan made several classic albums in the sixties. Over and over he bested himself with Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. From there his albums such as New Morning and John Wesley Harding while good did not measure up in his fans eyes.

Released in January 1975 Blood on the Tracks set a more modern benchmark in Dylan's career. With future releases not measuring up to or in the case of Time Out of Mind being the best album since, Blood on the Tracks is a demarcation point in his career.

Many speculate that Dylan was writing about his own life in a confessional way. He and his then wife Sara were in the process of splitting up and many of the songs do tend to deal with heartache and loss. Still Dylan insists he did not write his own life.

The album opens with one of the few songs in the Dylan canon that are included in almost every show. Tangled up in Blue remains one of the most popular Dylan songs, there are numerous verses and versions which are added and dropped depending on what seems to be Bob's mood. A great song.

Simple Twist of Fate is another concert staple, Dylan performed that last year here in Bangor. With each verse ending up in the same place it is easy to enjoy.

Your a Big Girl Now and Your Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go are two songs that were Zimmy to be talking to Sara these would be two of the songs he was using.

Idiot Wind is one of my favorites from the album. Bob stretches out the word Idiot into more syllables than you or I would and it is one I always enjoy. Years ago I heard a live version that was good too.

Side Two, in old album terms, starts with Meet in the Morning and ends with Shelter from the Storm and Buckets of Rain. The latter is another of my personal favorites.

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts is a song that perhaps only Dylan could get away with, certainly in 1975. The song told over a consistent chord and riff in sing-talk Dylan style tells us all about what took place on a day in the west of old.

Outside of Tangled the most recognizable and perhaps best song on the album is If You See Her Say Hello. A song of Dylan telling friends what to say to an ex lover should they come across her and beseeching them to stop by if she is passing through. A song that we all can sing and many of us have lived it is Dylan, confessional or not, at his best.

This album consistently lands in the Top 10 or 20 albums of the rock era when those lists come out. It is in that place deservedly so. A fantastic album.

Elf

While It's a Wonderful Life may help us to count our blessings what Elf does for us, year after year, is make us laugh.

We watched this right before Christmas with my daughter who loves this movie and can recite certain parts by heart. I knew we were in for it when she showed up with her Santa, I know him shirt.

For those few who have somehow missed this movie in it's constant airplay every December it tells the tale of Buddy the Elf played hilariously by Will Ferrell. Buddy is not an elf, years ago he crawled into a toy bag as Santa visited an orphanage and now as a full grown elf something is wrong. He towers above the other kids and he crushes his Dad, played by Bob Newhart, when he sits on his lap.

His elf father tells him his father is a businessman in New York. This man, played by James Caan, is on the naughty list. Buddy sets off to find him and has a host of adventures in the big city. He works at a store, meets a girl who sings like an angel ( Zooey Deschanel ) and becomes part of his father's new family. In the end Buddy saves Christmas and helps Santa played in this movie by Ed Asner.

This is a great family movie. There is nothing here to hide your kids from, no double entendres. This is a movie we can all enjoy. Will Ferrell is a joy in this role.

The Hangover II

I thought The Hangover was a very funny movie. It was also the source of contention in our home as our middle child, 13 at the time, was sure he should be allowed to see it while my wife was sure he should not. After watching this second movie I am not sure that I should be allowed to see it.

This movie is funny. It is not the original. It could well be that having seen the first one that the second which follows much the same trajectory could not be as funny. We already know what is coming.

Zach Galifinakas might be one of the funniest people in movies today and he does not disapoint. He makes me laugh just by looking at him. His portrayal of an innocent in the world around him, too honest for his own good is funny. Still the whole Bangkok has him theme gets old. A few too many Oriental stereotypes happen and I squirmed a bit at hearing what happened to Alan with the man in drag.

That did allow for some more of the Galifinakas humor but it still made me uncomfortable. Mike Tyson reprises his role as Mike Tyson and is funny again.

Still I cannot give this movie much more than an average rating. It was like seeing a repeat that for some reason was nowhere near as funny as the first time.

Apocalypse Now

I have heard many references to this 1979 film by Francis Ford Coppola. The story tells of Special Operations Agent Willard played by Martin Sheen. Willard is assigned the job of journeying up river into Cambodia, not a war zone at the time, and terminating a renegade Colonel who has established his own independent fighting unit of native tribesman.Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, hovers over the movie.

As the story is set in Vietnam I was not aware that the film is based on the Conrad novel Heart of Darkness. Certainly however it does fit, the scene and century is different but the tail of going up river in a hostile area to find a white man gone power mad with locals as his army is one that transfers.

As Willard starts on his mission he meets interesting characters played by Robert Duvall and others including a very young Laurence Fishburne.

When he arrives far enough into Cambodia to reach the Colonel's stronghold he is allowed entry. There he meets a hopped up photographer played by Dennis Hopper, played very authentically I might add and eventually is brought into the presence of Kurtz.

Brando first appears on screen with his face hidden. His impact on the movie is severe. Though he appears in a limited way over the last quarter of the movie only, knowing that he will be in the movie makes one wait for the moment. Head shaved, voice a rasp Kurtz spins tales and lessons, soliloquy's only he understands.

At the movie's climax Sheen and the one survivor of his crew leave the village with Kurtz last words of " The horror, the horror" ringing in their ears.

I thought this was a good movie, but not a great one. Still some of the scenes are iconic and deservedly so. Brando was an amazing actor and Sheen does not overact in his role, in many ways his voice is in the narration advances the story as much as his actions on the screen.

It's a Wonderful Life

How many times have we all seen this movie. Five times? Ten Times? More? Yet tonight we watched it again. Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. Donna Reed as his wife Mary. Bert, Ernie, Uncle Billy and Mr. Potter.

The story has become a Christmas story but it is not really. The day that the major event takes place is Christmas Eve but it could be any day. Jimmy Stewart is extremely likable as George Bailey. A man who as a youth had many dreams and they all consisted of getting out of the one horse town of Bedford Falls but continually gets pulled back. First the death of his father, then his brother's decision to marry and even losing his honeymoon when there is a run on the bank.


We have all seen it so why do we watch it. Why do I watch it. I love Jimmy Stewart. Donna Reed was bueatiful and wholesome and fun to watch. As Clarence writes in his gift to George at the end of the movie, any man with friends is a rich man. George Bailey is as his brother toasts him " the richest man in town." A good and decent man, a man involved in his community. Today with the reputation of bankers around that of Congress the idea of a bank executive such as Stewart's George Bailey seems unlikely. It was unlikely for that time too however.

I teared up tonight watching the end. You know whats coming, still the look of Donna Reed's face lit up with joy as friends help them out, his brothers toast, even the bank examiner chipping in to help....it is a story we enjoy because who would not like to entertain the thought that when in trouble that many people would come to help them. Karma says you reap what you sow and for too many of us we are afraid what might come to us in our reaping.

George Bailey is a man we can all love. A man we could all strive to be.

It's a Wonderful Life is a morality tale told with sugar and not with spice. A great movie. I will watch it again next year.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

I guess not every book that the critics rave about is for me. It could be that when Faulkner writes about poor, illerate white folks and black folks in the tone of his day I can acknowledge his gift. This book written by a young African American writer tells of a poor family, assumingly black with a 14 year old protaganist, a girl named Esch who is pregnant.

I found this book to be nothing so much as depressing. Four chapters in and I quit. I have no desire to visit them anymore.

Please Come Home For Christmas by James Brown

Wow! After hearing this version of this song that is all I can say. James Brown made several Christmas recordings, I have not listened to them all but listening to this was a revelation.

This man could wail. Wow.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorow by Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse did earlier this year. Her album of a couple of years ago, Back to Black, had been one of the great albums of the first decade of the new century. Soul chanteuse bringing the sound of the early days of the soul rock era Winehouse could sing like few before and even fewer today.

Soon however her singing became the under card to a drawn out fight she had with personal problems an substance addiction. Her song Rehab had too many truths in it for our own comfort. It was a battle she lost this year.

Recently the album Hidden Treasures has been released. It contains many gems recorded by Winehouse over the last few years as she staggered through life. The album is strong if varied but no one song fully captures what we lost with her death as much as her take on The Shirelles classic " Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? "

Her beautiful voice silenced forever. A woman that could sing the phone book and leave you wanting more. This song haunts anyone who loves a voice that can take you places. It did not take her where it should have. What a shame.

Luminous Airplanes by Paul La Farge

Having read a year end review of books from the year 2011 had not received as much attention as they should have I came across this book. La Farge writes as an unnamed narrator. Returning from a Burning Man type concert in California to his apartment in San Fransisco he receives a call that his Grandfather has died in Thebes, New York. In being away he has missed the funeral and is being asked to come home and clean out his grandfather's home.

Told in a back and forth style in which we learn about the life of the narrator this book is very powerful. When arriving in Thebes he is surprised to see that his childhood friends Kerem and Yesim, Turkish Americans who lived next door to his Grandfather's house are again living in the home next door.

We hear about his childhood in New York with his twin sister mothers, his relationships in Thebes with his Turkish neighbors, his summers at his grandfathers, his life in San Fransisco and importantly his dead father Paul Ente who he never met.

Over the course of a year around the turn of the milenium we see him explore his past and figure out his future. This is a book that is hard to pigeonhole but it is a book that was much better than most current fiction. It is time and place fiction but it is something that were modern authors taken as seriously as those from the first half of the last century that might one day be revered. An excellent book.

Nevada Smith

Following the truism that any Steve McQueen movie is better than almost any other movie I watched this movie recently. In it McQueen plays Max Sands, a young half Indian living in the Far West in the period after The Civil War. Max is out riding one day when three riders ask if he knows a Mr Sands. This is Max's father. By the time Max gets home his Father and mother, who was an Indian have been tortured and killed.

Max makes it his mission to hunt down the men and kill them. Along the way he meets up with a Mr Cord played by Brian Keith who helps him find his way, and teaches him how to shoot. After locating the first killer dealing poker and killing him in a knife fight he discovers that another man has been captured in a robbery and put in prison. He gets himself arrested and chases him down in prison.

Eventually he has just the ringleader to track down. Tom Fitch played by Karl Malden. By now Fitch knows what has happened to his two counterparts and he is very nervous. When Sands meets up with the group he uses the name Nevada Smith and passes all of Fitch's tests to prove he is not the Sands that he is fearing.

Eventually Max reveals himself and while exacting his revenge he has given up murder as a result of the intervention of a priest who had taken him in when he had injured his leg. A notable quote is when the priest points out Jesus on the cross and tells him he came to earth to preach love and forgiveness Max Sands says " It looks like he must not have spoke to all of them as that looks worse than hanging. " So true Max Sands, Jesus does not get his message to everybody.

Not a great movie, far from it. McQueen is always watchable though. The King of Cool.

The Outsiders by S E Hinton

My daughter was given this book as an assignment in her 7th grade English class. Continuing my history of attempting to read many of the books, in most cases rereading, the books my children are assigned. This one was an easy one to embrace. Having read this book in school and enjoying it and having seen the movie I read this one in two evenings.

The story is an Oklahoma West Side Story. The story of 3 brothers Derry, SodaPop and Ponyboy whose parents were killed a year previous leaving them struggling to stay together. Self identifying as greasers they live in a caste system as clear as any you would find. Their rivals the Socials are the kids from the good side of town, they have cars and nice clothes and of course the classy girls.

The story revolves around Johnny a smallish sixteen year old friend of Ponyboy. As the boys are out late one evening they are unfortunate enough to run into a group of Soc and the events will change lives.

This is a good story. It would be good if it showed young folks the dangers of fighting and what can go wrong.

My daughter enjoyed it. So did I.

Bob Newhart

At the end of Horrible Bosses BobNewhart makes a cameo appearance. It reminded me of how talented this man is. Breaking into comedy in the sixties with albums such as The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart, famous for his telephone routines Newhart went on to star in two famous sitcoms. Watching the Bob Newhart show from the seventies is a trip and the show Newhart was at times fall down funny.

The finale of the latter series had an ending that is legendary and worked on every level. Johnny Carson is my all time favorite and Newhart was a frequent guest. His appearances always has the easy flair of two men who both hilarious new how to play off each other. Newhart also guest hosted from time to time. Many others did as well, which begs the question why no guest hosts today. Are our hosts that insecure that someone may do better than them?

Newhart appeared in Elf and was wonderful. He appeared in an incredible guest appearance on ER that I believe might have, and if not, should have won him an emmy.

Bob Newhart is still with us. While he is we should remember what a comic treasure he is.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

End of the world books appear to be prevalent this fall. In this book the rapture has happened and the people left behind are not sure why they are left. What becomes obvious is that those people taken in what is called The Departure were not all Christians, were not all god fearing, some were certainly not good people.

One can imagine the confusion of those religeous folks that felt they had prepared for the rapture and as true beleivers were sure to go.

With all this going on in the background Perrotta takes us to Mapleton an average suburban town. We meet Kevin Garvey a middle aged retired liquor distributor who has become the cities mayor. Having lost his wife to a cult called The Guilty Remnant after the departure he is struggling to keep his high school daughter on the straight and narrow. His son Tom has joined a cult of a religeous leader called Wayne and has now been tasked with protecting Wayne's concubine who will be his vessel for the delivery of the savior to heal the world.

A strange book. A book of 350 pages in which while the characters themselves are well developed not much happens. Perhaps that is the message, that even after an apocolyptic event such as the rapture, people will still eventually be forucsed on thier own day to day events.

I read the book but truthfully by the end it was a bit disappointing, nothing was resolved and one wonders why they read 350 pages in which so little happened.

Maphead by Ken Jennings

I actually was interested in this book. I enjoy geography and thought that might be an enjoyable book. Jennings, known first and foremost as one of the Jeopardy champions that were on for a great length of time, clearly loves geography.

Still this book proves to be one that I stopped fifty pages in. Jennings may know trivia and facts but his writing is very clunky. Worse than that I thought his constant asides and jokes were either too much or not funny. And even worse than that at least one of his remarks was offensive. Stating his reverence for libraries, even city libraries that smell like homeless internet users, Jennings surely turned me off.

A very disappointing book

Jesus Was a Wino Too by Lydia Loveless

I have been hearing this song a bit on Outlaw Country. Until I looked her up on Google I assumed that Lydia was Patti's daughter. That turns out to not be the case.

What is the case however is that Lydia rocks. This song, despite it's irrelevant title is a stomp. It is impossible to listen to this song and not tap your feet or more dangerously drive faster.

This song stomps. A great tune.

Southern Rock Opera by The Drive By Truckers

This was the album that Patterson Hood and the boys were formed to make. Even as the first albums were recorded the band was writing songs for this album and setting them aside for the day when the Opera could be recorded.

This double album is thematically strong. It is a Southern Rock thing. Cliches are present. So is George Wallace, Alabama and the ever present ghost and story of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Does it work. My guess is that it depends on your outlook. I think this is a fantastic album. Some of these songs are very very good. A few go off the rails into just a little too much redneck even for me but when this album is good it is very good.

Some of the tracks of note include 72 ( This Highways Mean ), Zip City, Let There Be Rock and Women Without Whiskey.

The ghost of Skynyrd walks through Let There Be Rock, Cassie's Brother, Life In the Factory and the telling Angels and Fuselage.

Songs such as Wallace, Birmingham, The Southern Thing and Three Great Alabama Icons visit the political legacy of the sixties and seventies and how that affected young folks growing up in that era.

Shut Up and Get on the Plane is fun and one can hear the debt that The Hold Steady owe for their song Sequestered in Memphis. Music is something where one can always hear the refernces.

Writing this I realized I was not enthusiastic enough. This is a great album. The band ran out of money when recording their master work and took donations from fans, friends and family. We owe them all a debt.

This is a great album. This is a tight band. Listen today, Listen Tomorrow, Listen Often

Boston

In 1976 a debut album appeared by a group called Boston. Simply self titled the Boston debut album has had a lasting impact in rock history. It is a rare rock and roll music collection that does not have this seminal album in it.

With just eight tracks here is no fluff. Boston's sound was unique. With high harmonies, strong guitars and the mastery of Tom Scholz. Few bands have had such a cult around an unknown figure such as Schulz. Brad Delp sang and was a very good singer but Scholz was the face and name of the band.

The tracks on this album are one by one as strong as you would find. Fm Radio staples for thirty plus years when these songs come on the radio you either tap your foot and put your finger in your throat. If you loved them once you might be sick of them. They have been played until the grooves come off.

For me it is former. I turn them up.

More Than a Feeling with one of the most notable riffs in rock history, so good that it appears Kurt Cobain was listening when he made Smells like Teen Spirit. Peace of Mind and Long Time continued the progression. What perhaps makes the album so strong though are the additional cuts such as Rock and Roll Band, Smokin' and Hitchin a Ride are, as a result. of said FM radio airplay, almost as well known as the songs that charted.

The last two tracks, Something About You and Let Me Take You Home Tonight are also strong. The last cut being the first foray into, if not a ballad, at least an effort at the sensitive side.

Everyone loved this album in the seventies. Everyone owned it at least once. It is still a seminal album. I for one cannot be tired of it but it the background music for a certain group of people who grew up in a certain time and place.

As the greatest selling debut album of all time, until Guns and Roses came along, that is a large group of people indeed.

When Scholz died a couple of years ago I listened to it again. It ages well. It was one of the best constructed albums you will hear.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Stayed up way too late last night reading the last two hundred pages of this latest King doorstop. At eight hundred pages plus this book will be an investment of your time. Overall however the payoff is there.

In this book we meet Jake Epping a high school Science teacher recently divorced. Being newly single he dines often at a diner called Al's and enjoys the house special..a fatburger. As school lets out for the yer he gets a call from Al asking him to come by. When he arrives at the resteraunt he finds Al looking haggard and ill.

It comes to pass that Al has found a time portal. It takes him back to 1958 each time he goes. Having seen him the night before Epping is surprised to see him 30 pounds lighter, a whole lot grayer and looking close to death. In the time portal no matter how long your gone it is only two minutes on this side.

Al had been gone for five years trying to change history. Jake as they talk soon realizes what history he was trying to change five years from 1958 and refuses to consider fulfilling this mission.

As the book has over 750 pages left we know that Jake does. Stopping to fix a couple of local tragedies he is aware of on the way Jake them begins his movements to Dallas.

This is a very good book. A page turner. King has always been clunky when writing about love and Epping, called George Amberson in 1960 when he makes his way to the small town of Jodie, Texas develops a love interest. It is good for the story but not good for us to have to read King's references to lovemaking. Ewww.

Still a great book. Oswald, Kennedy and Epping/Amberson have a date with history or as it turns out several alternative dates. Which one will be the final outcome holds sway over all our futures.

The Sons of Katie Elder

This 1965 Western starred John Wayne and Dean Martin. Four brothers return home when word of their mothers death reaches them. John Elder played by Wayne and Tom Elder played by Martin join their brothers Bud and Matt. Upon arriving in town they discover that thier Mom had moved out of the family ranch.

Soon we see that no one wants to talk of the circumstances of their fathers death six months earlier and that much has changed in town since the arrival of a Mr Hastings who has big plans for the town and it's growth.

No movie with John Wayne will depart far from the expected and John Elder wants some answers. In the end he finds them and sets out to make things right.

A good movie. Not a great one. Wayne, himself pushing 60 at the time of this movie was a bit old for the role of the prodigal son. Dean Martin, per usual, was strong and likable in his role.

My Life as a Turkey

This special was featured on the PBS Nature program recently. My daughter and I often watch these Mature shows. They are extremely well done, the video is exceptional and in today's HD world the shows are usually as good as one would have seen on a movie screen.

In this show we see the unique story of Joe Hutto a naturalist who has been left a hatful of turkey eggs. Seeing this as an opportunity to attempt to get the turkey's to imprint on him Hutto is ready when the eggs crack. In fact he is communicating with chirps before the birds even hatch hearing them respond from inside the shell.

H is successful, when the birds are born they do adopt him as their mother. What follows over the course of the next year is nothing short of amazing. The birds adopt him fully. He spends the day with them from dawn to after dark. He teaches them how to perch. He walks them thru the woods. They crawl on him, sleep on him and nuzzle him.

Over the course of the year the flock loses a few members. Joe develops favorites including Sweet Pea who loves to nuzzle long after the other birds have grown more independent. Another favorite is Turkey Boy, the most boisterous of the males who stays with Joe after all the others have moved on but who is also the bird present for the culmination of Joe's year with the birds.

This is a great show. The Nature program is consistently strong, PBS is a network we often enjoy.

My Television Cancellations

I try to view as many new shows as I can. Those that I do view are those which I have at least some idea that I might like to add to our viewing lineup. Still a show that one enjoys at the beginning and one that is kept as a weekly commitment are often two different things and one certainly does not equal another.

I read an article about what shows have we as viewers cancelled recently. Not shows that were physically cancelled but that we as viewers hvae stopped watching.

For me a few come to mind. We have dropped Survivor. Same old, same old. My wife still watches Desperate Housewives. I do not. I have no desire to see anymore Dexter, it is the same old thing.

Yesterday I cancelled American Horror Story. Too dark, too weird.

What do we watch. Not much. Must see's each week are How I Met Your Mother, Last Man Standing, Parenthood, X Factor, The Middle, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory, Grey's Anatomy and Saturday Night Live. From Cable The Walking Dead and Hell on Wheels are on that list as well.

We also watch often but not always 60 Minutes and Brian Williams. That is ten hours a week. Of course much of that is on TIVO and shows like SNL and X Factor can be cut in half.

Add to that Jon Stewart, David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon and there are plenty of good shows to watch.

To Build A Fire by Jack London

Read this story tonight on the Jack London Website. Most have heard of London's books Call of the Wild and White Fang and such but he was a prolific author who wrote a great deal of short stories. This is one I have often heard mention of.

It is a simple story, ten minutes of your life. You will be rewarded. In the story London introduces us to a man traveling deep into the Artic. He estimates the temperature at 50 below but he is making good time and looks forward to arriving to his camp and having an entertaining night with his friends. He even takes a moment to chide in his mind an old timer who told him to never travel alone when it is this cold.

More than two thirds of the way to his campsite he goes thru the ice where an underground stream had weakened it. Knowing he must dry his feet he builds a fire. The last half of the story surrounds the building of that fire and what happens if when you are in the Deep Artic and struggle to build that fire. The story reads like a suspense novel, it is hard to believe that the only thing we are waiting on is will he be able to build a fire before he freezes to death.

This is a great story.

Horrible Bosses

As the second feature in our comedy festival last evening we watched this movie after Bridesmaids. Interestingly the two movies seem to be a bit of bookends with the female and male perspectives.

In this movie Charlie Day, Jason Sudeilis, and Jason Bateman play three men who work for what could be deemed Horrible Bosses, hence the title.

Those bosses played by Jennifer Aniston ( a play against type as a sexual harassor, Colin Farrell as Bobby Pelitt, and Kevin Spacey as the dastardly as Dave Harken.

Also in the movie is Jill Clayburgh, her last role before dying of luekemia, and Jamie Foxx as Motherf---er Jones who might have the funniest part in the movie.

Called a dark comedy this too was a funny movie. I would call it not as even as Bridesmaids but still there were several laugh out loud movies. Jason Sudeikis is a very funny actor...one wonders if he could not be funny.

A good movie with very funny moments.

Bridesmaids

This movie with a stellar cast was a big hit last winter. Written by and starring Kristen Whig the movie centers on Annie. Annie is single. She recently saw her small business called Cake Lady go out of business.

In the movie Annie is asked to be the maid of honor for her best friend Lillian. Lillian, played by Maya Rudolph also has as bridesmaids Helen, the wealthy wife of her fiance's boss played by Rose Byrne. Another is Megan, played by the hilarious Megan McCarthy.

The movie is loud and lewd. For a movie about bridesmaids there is much bodily function humor. Whig and her brand of physical comedy from SNL translates well to the big screen and it seems likely that she will have a good run of success on the big screen.

We laughed out loud. This movie works on all levels. McCarthy is also one to watch. A great Saturday night movie.

The Muppets

The whole family went to see The Muppet Movie Wednesday night. All the kids, even the teenagers and Nana too. It has been quite sometime since The Muppets made a movie.

In this movie which was written as a labor of love by Jason Segal we meet two brothers. Gary, played by Segal and his brother Walter who is, although not noticed by them a Muppet. Walter is also the worlds greatest fan of all things Muppet.

Gary is to visit Hollywood with his long time girlfriend Mary, played by Amy Adams. A short aside here, is there anyone in the movies today who at least appears cuter and sweeter than Amy Adams. She might be on her way to being this generations Domma Reed. Then I remember that she played the mouthy girlfriend in The Fighter and realize that she has little to worry about as far as being typecast.

Gary and Mary decide to take Walter so they can visit The Muppet Theatre and are shocked to find that it is falling apart with only a dusty tour to prove it was ever a building that housed The Muppets.

Walter after having snuck into Kermit's office while the tour goes on overhears Tex Richman talking about his plan to buy the theatre when The Muppets lease runs out and then drill for the oil discovered under the theatre.

What follows is a montage of gathering up the old gang including a going gray Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy in France. Watch the Muppets travel by map and you will wish that you could.

This movie is sweet. It also feels like it is true to it's origins. Guest Stars abound including Neil Patrick Harris, Dave Grohl, and many others.

My son told his friends he went and told them it was a cute little movie. For a 16 year old to admit this means it must have been.

Wilford Brimley on Craig Ferguson

I think I have a thing for old men. I like them. I never had a grandfather so perhaps that is it. Or maybe I feel like I am an old man already, opinionated ( obviously and attached to the past). I am not sure why but whatever the reason I am always interested in old men and their opinions.

So while my children and I might joke about Wilford Brimley and his Diabetes adds and my pal and I might joke about Wilford has the sugar the fact is that for me Wilford on Craig Ferguson is must see television.

When introduced he came out with is cowboy hat in hand. With his classic droopy mustache Brimley looks like he lives in the Westerns that he has starred in. Talking with Ferguson Brimley is wry and understated. Talking about his horses Ferguson asks him what type he has...Brimley says he has a brown one.

So in other words, nothing happened. Still when I shut off the televsion I considered it time well spent. Somethings are greater than the sum of their parts. For me Wilford is. Perhaps it is because he reminds me of my brother in law Martin. I really like and respect him so that too...is a good thing.

At the end of his interview Ferguson asked if he wanted to play a harmonica with him. Brimley did, started slow, and then took off and impressed the host. The host presented him with a gold harmonica. A gift that is given only to those who can truly play the harmonica.

Brimley took it all in stride, something it seems to me he has most likely done his whole life.

Some people like the Kardashians some people like Brimley, I guess it is all a matter of taste. Brimley is in my taste and I respect him.

Regis Philbin Retires

I love Regis. I have written about this before but with his " retirement " it is a subject to visit on again. The question is what is it about Regis that we love for certainly I am not the only person to regret his leaving his show.

He is cranky. It seems everyone has a Regis impression and most of them include him being grumpy. So why do we love him.

I think I like him because he is who I could see myself being. In another life that is. Out to dinner everynight, name dropping on his show but truly one of the more positive people you will meet.

Moreover there is something about the chemistry he had with Kelly Ripa. I saw both shows and perhaps it is my increased age but I found the show to be much better with Kelly than Kathy Lee Gifford. Perhaps because with Kelly it is clearly Regis that is in control of the show.

Regis lives his fans. Regis is a great guest. David Letterman loves to have him on his shown.

Regis is just someone that you would like to talk to. To have dinner with. Can you say a much better thing about an entertainer.

Head and Heart: American Christianties by Gary Wills

Gary Wills is one of my favorite authors. His writings on history and religion are among the best I have written. Wills has an interesting perspective, he is a devout Catholic but he leans more to the left than right in his writings and beliefs.

This is a 600 page plus book that tracks American religion from the Salem plantation to the 2006 elections. Tracking the two paths of Enlightenment and Evangelical religion Wills gives us much to consider.

An interesting section is about the American forefathers, most of whom were Deists. They still understood the need for religion to center American life but for they themselves the miracles of Jesus were not to be beleived. In essence they felt that Jesus was a remarkable, wonderful, thoughtful, mortal human being.

We see the affect religion had on the issue of slavery. We see the major religions split into two with both sides grasping at their interpretation of the Bible.

The modern Evangelical movement gets quite a bracing review from Wills. Arguing that abortion has become more of a political issue than a religeous one Wills offers an intellectual argument that I have not heard before.

A book this large offers more than can be reviewed. Safe to say for me Wills is my daily spiritual review. Reading a small section each day so I can mull it Wills books last me a bit. This is a great writer.

Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

In this book Millard who is not a well known biographer tackles the subject of the assassination of James Garfield. Millard who earlier wrote about Teddy Roosevelt tells us of the events leading up to the election of Garfield and then his shooting by a derganged office seeker named Charles Guiteau. The story does not end with the shooting, Garfield lived over two months with the wound until he died of infection.

The book also introduces us to Alexander Graham Bell. In 1876 Bell introduces the World to the telephone but he was a constant inventor. When Garfield was shot, what we know now, was that it was his medical treatment was the cause of his death. Guiteau in his trial claimed that while he shot Garfield it was his medical treatment that killed him. He was correct. The jury did not buy this, nor did they buy the insanity defense.

By all accounts Garfield was a good man of strong character who never really got a chance go govern. His shooting united the country both North and South for perhaps the first time since the end of the war. His major accomplishment was dispensing with Roscoe Conkling, the Senator from New York, the king of patronage. Interestingly with his death Conkling's protege the Vice President Chester Arthur, placed on the ticket only to placate the Stalwart wing of the party, became a man beyond what was expected of him. He pushed Conkling away and became his own man and tried to fulfill Garfield's policies.

The medical treatment of Garfield was not only bad, it was bad ignoring the methods of Joseph Lister a doctor who was attempting to teach antiseptic methods and surgery, methods that if followed would have inevitably led to Garfield's surviving.

Through it all Garfield was stoic and thoughtful. The second President killed in a fifteen year span and yet the country survived and soon prospered.

It's Been a Long Time Coming by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes

Southside Johnny has been making music for as long as Bruce Springsteen. Never making the dent commercially that he might have liked he has always been a fine musician.

This song with an assist from both Springsteen and Little Steven is as good a song as you would find on a Springsteen album.

The connection between the singers, the lyrics tell a tale of loss and celebration of surviving. Certainly one we all could imagine being on in the background as we gather with old friends and remember lost friends this Holiday season.

It has indeed been a long time coming.

Suicide of a Superpower by Pat Buchanan

I like Pat Buchanan. I am sure I am not supposed to. Yet I do. He is clearly a Conservative and I am not. Yet when reviewing his positions they are in some cases very similar to mine. I do not go party line on issues and find that in issues I feel conservative on Buchanan mirrors me.

I did not read all of this book. The first 75 pages were enough to make clear what Buchanan was selling. Culture divergence, wars, entitlement spending is killing us. I think anyone looking at Washington would have to agree.

For me the most important chapter was the solutions section. First we must find that while Obama is certainly not a racist he is, besides being ill prepared to b

e President, not one who understands middle America. He could not stand up for Unions yet he does not understand the frustrations of the average frustrates white man or black man,

The national debt is fueled by welfare and warfare. We will always argue about what we should do with those who need help. Easier however is to realize our military is a giant boondoggle. We borrow money from Japan to protect Japan. We do the same for Europe. We borrow money from China to send foreign aid to countries that then vote with China against us at the U N. We have 700 to 1000 bases in 130 countries. How is this justifiable. It is a colossal waste.

The troops we have in Europe serve what purpose exactly? Do we really think the Russians are invading?

Most important to me, and to people who would like me to stop harping on it is Economic nationalism. Buchanan lays out the simple reason that a tariff is needed. It has to be set up in such a way to force companies to make things here. This is still the biggest market in the world. Germany, China, and everyone else might make noise but no one will leave this market. And should they start a trade war they will miss our imports much more than we will miss our exports. We can make what we buy but as my friend Brad says who would China sell all fheir crappy Walmart merchandise to?

For some reason being seen as Pro American is seen as being lowbrow and simplistic. I do not think so. Only a person who hates himself can not love his country. I surely do not believe in.my country right or wrong but there is a reason we are hurting in this country. It all starts with the cultural divide. Pat is right about that too.

This is all unlikely to gain any traction. Both the right and left worship at the alter of free trade. It is however, nice to see someone articulating an idea that puts America first. Even if it is old crazy Pat Buchanan

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

Denis Johnson the author who had previously won The National Book Award for His Vietnam novel Tree of Smoke recently published a short novella called Train Dreams.

The story which I read last night in an hour or so tells the tale of Robert Grainer a turn of the century day laborer in the Northern Rockies. Living his life in area from Idaho, Montana into the Pacific Northwest.

We learn much in one hundred pages,we see Grainer adopted but he knows not from where. He does not remember. We see him marry and then face tragedy. We see him grow old. Throughout the story their are trains. Trains he rides in, trains that paa through the valley. Trains that being him to his new home when a child. It is a story told in evocative prose. It is pretty. For me who yearns, or thinks he yearns, for a simpler time this is a wonderful story.

I enjoyed it very much and when I laid down at 2 am after reading it I felt peaceful. A great story

Jimmy Fallon As Jim Morrison

Adding to his canon of amazing impressions last Friday night Jimmy Fallon sang The Reading Rainbow song as Jim Morrison. Costumes, the video, and the Morrison theatrics were spot on.

Fallon can play anybody. We have seen him do Neil Young many times, recently we saw him do Bob Dylan singing the Charles in Charge theme song. Quite a few people do impressions, what Fallon does is even more special as he picks songs which were never done. Singing theme songs as famous figures does not seem to be something I have seen anyone do.

Each time Fallon does this it becomes viral. He is incredibly talented. All of these are immedieatly must see television.

The Real Rocky

Espn Films as part of their fall schedule aired an episode entitled The Real Rocky. Telling the story of Chuck Wepner a seventies era fighter known as a bleeder. Wepner was never a great fighter. What he was was an average fighter with a huge heart and the ability to take a great deal of punishment without quitting.

Wepner is remembered for a fight with Mohammad Ali in 1975 ? in which he went 14 rounds. Ali seemed to toy with Wepner early in the fight until in the mid rounds Wepner knocked him down. Later video seems to show that perhaps it was more of a slip than a knockdown, perhaps Chuck stepped on his foot, but it was ruled a knockdown. It woke Ali up and he for the next few rounds viciously beat the hell out of Wepner. Still Wepner would not go down. Finally Wepner was knocked out at the beginning of the 15th but not without earning a measure of respect from Ali and a huge level of respect from the boxing faithful anxious to cheer an everyman.

A couple of years later the movie Rocky appeared. Several times in print Sylvester Stallone made reference to being inspired by Chuck Wepner. Later in his career Wepner fought Andre the Giant. Later in the Rocky series Balboa fights an ex wrestler played by Hulk Hogan.

Certainly based on Stallone's statements and on the scripts of his movies it would seem that some sort of a debt was due to Wepner. When Stallone would not honor this and stated that he took no inspiration or thought from Wepner's career or actions Wepner sued. Eventually the two settled out of court for what inevitably was a sizable amount.

This was a well written informative and I enjoyed it. In the end Stallone paying out some form of settlement to Wepner was only right.

All American Muslim

This show debuted on TLC last Sunday night. Right after Sister Wives though for some reason I cannot get my wife to watch that show.

This show centers on five Muslim families in the very heavily Arabic Muslim city of Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn, we are told in the beginning of the show, is the most heavily Arabic city in the world that is outside of the Middle East.

I think any show that can show the Muslim community in a positive light is only a good thing as we all, myself included, have heard and seen all the stereotypes.

Dearborn, Michigan has high schools that are 97 percent Muslim. In the first episode we meet all the families but the first episode centers on the Amen family. One of their daughters is getting married. She is marrying however an Irish Catholic. In the Muslim faith men can marry outside the faith but women may not. I am not sure of the reasoning of this other than perhaps it is considered important to protect women from the infidel. At least in ancient times.

We see Jeff McDermott accept the Islamic faith, a very easy process, and marry into the family. We see the stress this puts on his mother. At the wedding the cultures meld quite well and we see both belly dancers and Irish step dancing. Perhaps to help us all get along better we need more not less interfaith marriages.

My wife liked the show quite a bit, I found it interesting. I think we will watch some more episodes though I am not sure of the shelf life of this show.

The Lions Roar by First Aid Kit

Featured in Entertainment Weekly's must list last week this Swedish group has released a song that is a mix of a Dixie Chicks Landlide Harmony and a rock dirge from Ireland. This song and the accompanying video is entrancing.

Looking them up on Spotify I was surprised to see that these sisters are not newbies. They have made several albums of music but clearly this would be the first real break into the American scene.

The video is haunting and the song is as well. I am also sure this is not a song all would like. For my sensibilities however it is strong. Great melodies, a great undercurrent of layeredness. Truly calling it a rock dirge is the best way to describe it.

Listen to it. Call me a fan.

Light in August by William Faulkner

Finishing Oprah's series of three Faulkner's books that were packaged as a Summer of Faulkner I have just finished Light in August.

After reading As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury this book was much easier. Still told with flashbacks and wraparounds it could never be called an easy read.

After reading three books and his short stories I have to advise that I have an affection for his writing. Because it is much centered on a Southern life and portrays race relations as they existed at that time Faulkner's work is disapparing as expected reading. This is a shame.

Light in August centers on Joe Christmas. A young man of mixed race adopted by a pious couple we learn in the course of the book Joe's story both back in time and to its conclusion. Reading an article about the book after the fact I was surprised to see all the Christian imagary in both this character and in the book itself. Especially comparing some details of the chapters of John and this book. Sometimes I wonder if the correlation is on purpose by Faulkner or if someone just had too much time on their hands to see it. Sort of like the whole Pink Floyd/ Wizard of Oz. Still it seem that Faulkner must have known what he was doing.

We also meet Lena a young unmarried pregnant woman from Alabama who is chasing down the man who impregnated her with both baby and promises. She is like a tortoise steadily moving, depending on the kindness of strangers to get where and what she wants.

66 characters in all float through the book, equal to the number of books in the Bible for those who believe Faulkner mapped the whole book out with that sort of imagary. The book is a marvel. Certainly more accessilbe than some others but nothing you can breeze through in an afternoon.

I am glad I read the others first. This book is like dessert after a tough but filling steak.

Means of Ascent by Robert Caro

This is the second book in the Caro life project of telling the tale of LBJ. My wife the other night when I told her Caro had finished the fourth ( but not final ) book in his series asked me " Was LBJ that important? "

The answer is a resounding yes though one has to dig such as Caro does to understand why. So much of what is politics today is a result of LBJ and his efforts.

For example in 1948 LBJ brought about the modern political campaign with his helicopter and media buys. Coke Stevenson ran an old style campaign. That Johnson stole the election is a pretty well known fact. That there was thievery on both sides is not as well documented. Still in Caro's telling Coke Stevenson comes across as a pretty remarkable character. One we could use today.

Johnson was under the thumb financially to Brown and Root a large contractor in Texas. The book does not advise this but it is a fact known to anyone who looks deep enough that as Brown and Root grew and bought other companies it became Haliburton. Knowing what we know of Johnson if that does not make sense you are not paying attention.

Johnson and his life were life changing for all of us. In his foreword to Book Two Caro talks about how Johnson's life had threads of good and bad that concurrently ran. Johnson and the War in Vietnam was perhaps the first and biggest straw that broke the prestige of the Presidency. The fact that a majority of Americans hold the office in less respect runs back in a straight line to Johnson.

In Book Two Caro tells us their is only one thread. The seven years between 1941 and 1948 were Johnson's time in the wilderness. He hated being in the House but had lost his chance at a Senate seat in the War. He did not see the future he wanted. This was when he almost got out of politics and indeed his media empire grew exponentially at this time.

The election of 1948 was everything. Caro in detail tells us about this election. Johnson collapsed with kidney stones still trying to campaign. Perhaps the biggest correlation to our modern elections would be to Bush/Gore in 2000. Johnson with his late ballots from Box 13. Stevenson seeking relief from the courts. Johnson's folks appealing the decision to review the ballots and while waiting for a ruling that would stop the process and stop Johnson's win doing everything they could to delay the hearing they were in to open the ballots. Finally a higher court intercedes. Who helped Johnson primarily in this endeavor. Abe Fortas. Who did Johnson put on the Supreme Court later. Abe Fortas. In Texas it works like that.

One should remember Johnson and I paraphrase had said that he would always turn in his votes last after the 1942 debacle in which he lost a Senate race by thinking he had it won and not even cheating could take it. With that in mind perhaps one can understand that Johnson is only the most famous of mid twentieth century vote stealer's in Texas.

Johnson did some great things and from his heart. He is not a black hearted figure. He is a man raised in poverty determined to help those who were poor. He also however wanted power and held on to it at all costs.

Johnson was like the proverbial man with the angel and the devil on his shoulder. A great book.

Bill Keane of The Family Circus Dies

Bill Keane who wrote The Family Circus comic strip for decades died last week. I love and collect the Charles Schulz collections of Peanuts but Keane was also a wonderful cartoonist. Certainly his strips were more sacharine and sweet than the Peanuts strips and with no sharp edges as almost all of the strips today.

Told in one board with a caption rather than the traditional panel strip Keane showed us life as many of us in suburbia knew it. Billy, Jeffy, Dolly and PJ were children that never grew up in the land of comic strips. I read a great deal of them in the papers and always found a smile.

Many stick with me but one story I remember is this. My son in his early little league days had not got a call advising his game was cancelled. It was raining so hard that the water was rushing down the street, a downpour for hours. It made me remember a strip seen years ago of Billy with his uniform on, bat over his shoulder, asking his Mom " How she knew the game was cancelled" as through the window we saw the rain pouring down.

Certainly Keane's strip came from a different time and generation. His son however has been doing the strip for the last few years and it will continue. Not edgy but still as long as people have adorable young children who say cute things it will be relevant. That is something to be thankful for.

Dexter

Some of my good friends have watched this show for years. I thought for quite sometime that the show was too dark for me and we do have many choices to watch. This weekend with some free time my wife had the first season on DVD so we decided to watch a few episodes.

The show is dark. Dexter played by Micheal C Hall is a blood splatter forensic specialist with the Miami police department. He also is a serial killer. When the show beings we see him taking his next victim. Dexter kills and then slices and dices.

The twist is that Dexter is not evil Persay. Dexter kills those that need to be killed. Those that have been not caught or convicted by our justice system. Those that get off. Those that are however guilty.

Hall does a great job with the role. In the first four episodes he has taken out a few bad guys while playing cat and mouse with a serial killer. He has a girlfriend and as much as he likes her he is not comfortable with sexuality and considers it a blessing she does not want sex either due to her past with an abusive husband. This changes in episode four when she kneels for a moment and surprises him.

In flashback we see Dexter as a young man with his adopted father, a police officer and his adoptive father's understanding of Dexter's unique habit leads to some of Dexter's methods.

I do not know what this show says about us, if it is supposed to mean anything. I know that we all like the idea of justice being served without the hinderences which sometimes seem to get in the way. Still one hopes that no one out there thinks that this is a viable way to deal with people they feel our guilty.

For guilty pleasure however one could do worse than this show.

J Edgar

This weekend my wife and I faced a strange occurence. We found ourselves childless as our kids were all off at various places. Faced with this we chose to go to a late movie. Being a history buff and faced with my wife's refusal to go see any Harold and Kumar movie we chose to go see this movie.

Having read biographies of the Presidents from FDR to Nixon I have a good deal of knowledge about Hoover. His classic battles with the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King are well documented.

Still Clint Eastwood has produced a strong and overall balanced movie here. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, with makeup playing the whole lifespan with Naomi Watt playing his loyal secretary Helen Gandy. Playing Hoover's longtime assistant and friend Clyde Tolson is Armie Hammer in a very strong performance.

The movie centers much of it's time on Hoover's struggles to use modern methods of police work to help root out Communists and later the Gangsters such as John Dillinger. The event which allowed for the changes Hoover wanted was the kidnapping of the Lindburgh baby. The movie shows how Hoover used fingerprints, wood research and many other new methods. Despite recent curiousness about the true guilt Hoover's methods proved resourceful.

The dark side of Hoover was he grew to love his creation too much. As new administrations came into office to protect himself he had created files on many people. With FDR he had information on Eleanoar, with JFK he had his womanizing and on and on. Eventually keeping his own power and his creation safe became as important as the safety of the nation the FBI originally was sworn to protect.

The movie does a good job telling the story. Over the last decade or so a few of the sensationalized stories of Hoover, his wearing dresses, his relationship with Clyde Tolson, his overbearing mother, his obsessivness about hand washing and such much has been lost of the true history. Some of these subjects are touched on briefly here but no so much as to dominate the movie.

A good film. Dicaprio is stellar in his performance.

Dial M For Murder

Alfred Hitchcock. Movies like Rear Window, Vertigo and North by Northwest are some of the greatest movies you will ever see. I had never seen Dial M for Murder. Starring Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, and Robert Cummings as a triangle gone wrong.

Milland plays Tony Wendice a tennis player who has met with moderate success but perhaps not enough to placate his rich wife played by Grace Kelly. She would like him to stay home and have a real job. The movie is told backwards at times. We learn that Margot Wendice has been having an affair with mystery writer Mark Halliday who is played by Robert Cummings.

Being a Hitchcock movie we expect lots of twists. The difference in this is that we know the twist. Tony wants to kill his wife. He sets this up. When this fails he makes adjustments on the fly. The pieces fit together, until they don't.

I watched this movie with my son. He appreciated the movie as well. The twists and turns of a good mystery was a new experience for him. No one will ever convince me that a Hitchcock movie without gore, language and other modern movie magic is not better than alnything you would see today.

After watching this with my son I hope he agrees.

Hell on Wheels

AMC began it's most recent series last Sunday night debuting Hell on Wheels after The Walking Dead. The title comes from the town of Hell on Wheels in Nebraska, the name of the movable town made up of workers on the TransContinental Railroad.

The series begins in a jarring way as our we see a soldier making a confession is asked by the priest to tell him what happened in Meridian. The soldier who was trying to absolve himself of these unnamed sins is surprised to hear the question and then even more surprised when the priest opens the shield and shoots him dead.

We learn then that the priest is no priest but a Confederate soldier who though the war is over, is looking for revenge to what happened to his wife. The soldier is Cullen Bohannan played by Anson Mount. Soon he is on his way to work at Hell on Wheels and while he needs the work he is also on the lookout for men who took part in the death of his wife.

After having watched the first episode I am looking forward to seeing what happens but am not sure the series has given itself enough room for characters we care about. It still is worth watching to see just where it goes.

Lost in Translation

We visited my wife's Mom tonight. She is surely not your stereotypical mother-in-law. She is a wonderful lady who I love dearly. She showed us a movie she had got from Netflix by accident. Of course I am not sure how it got into her list by accident but she is technologically challenged like me only amplified by twenty years.

So now that we had the movie she asked us to watch it with her and I was fine with that. I had heard much of the movie which was up for multiple awards in 2003. Bill Murray, as funny as he is, is also just absurd enough to pull off this role. Scarlet Johannsen, 18 at the time, is a picture of attractiveness and vulnerability. Sofia Coppola directed this movie and won the Oscar for screnplay.

The story explores issues of loneliness and alienation. Murray an aging actor has agreed to do a Japanese liquor commercial for two million dollars. Scarlet plays a young woman, married to a celebrity photographer who is questioning who she is and essentially what she wants to be.

Through a chance meeting the two become odd acquantences and exerience a week of ever growing closeness but never pull the trigger on sex.

The folks I watched the move with did not like it. It was slow moving and not quite Oscar worthy by my standards either. Still Murray is a great actor, his character was deep and his attempts to treat this attractive girl with respect while keeping his own mid life crisis at bay.

An interesting movie.

Fiddler on the Roof

Another one of those movies that I have heard about forever but never watched. My wife loves musicals of all types and remembered singing the songs in her Show Choir days in high school.

The movie, like the Broadway hit tells of a Jewish village in the Ukraine in Tsarist Russia in 1905. Songs from the play and then the movie are some of the most known from any movie. When my 16 year old son, who watched the movie with me, is singing " If I Were a Rich Man and Tradition, as he zips around the house, you know you have songs that will last forever.

Based on the book Tevye and His Daughters Fiddler introduces us to Tevya a Jewish milkman, a poor man, blessed with five daughters as he acknowledges with a shrug. His three oldest daughters anxious to be married are complicating his life. When the Matchmaker ( Matchmaker, Matchmaker is another stellar song ) makes a match for his oldest with the widowed butcher his daughter rebels. She wishes to marry a childhood friend who is a tailor. A young politically minded man ( a young Paul Micheal Glaser) visits the town, tutors Tevya's daughters and falls in love with another daughter. The father allows her to choose her husband too.

The hardest daughter is one who marries outside the faith and this brings one of the most emotonal scenes in the movie's climax.

Told against the backdrop of pogrom's and forced evacuations this is a movie for the whole family, a movie that makes me want to see the play. Simply wonderful.

The Apartment

This movie was a huge success winning Best Picture in 1960. A strong cast in this movie from Billy Wilder. I must admit that I found the cast to be strong, especially Fred MacMurray playing against type as a womanizing executive.

However I also found the movie to be unsettling and depressing. Jack Lemmon plays CC Baxter a young executive who has somehow allowed senior executives to use his apartment as a den of adulterous behavior.

Rising steadily through the company due to his flexibility with the executives Baxter is infatuated with an elevator attendant in the company played by a young and to me surprisingly attractive Shirley Maclaine. She however is currently the most recent girl on a string of the filandering HR Director played by MacMurray. Growing up watching him playing the Dad on My Three Sons made this a shock to the system.

A well done movie. An interesting story with some humor. Still as I find this shocking and unsettling, I can only imagine how this movie played in Middle America in 1960. Jack Lemmon is a wonderful actor but this movie was no hit for me.

The Best American Sportswriting 206 Edited by Michael Lewis

Enjoying strong magazine pieces I picked this up on the bargain bin at Amazon. Of the collections I have read the totality of the pieces was not as good as some the anthologies before or after but there were still some incredibly powerful stories.

One was a story about Jermaine Ewell who was strong high school football player on his way to the NCAA and perhaps the professional leagues. Involved in an argument at a party, he was beaten with a bat to the point where he could or should have died. After years of recovery he was attempting to play Arena Football. He did not succeed but he succeeded by even attempting it. An inspiring story.

Dirty Moves was a story from a writer who takes his sons to wrestling meets. His sons, taught the right way, lose in a match due to a dirty move made by his opponent. A story about a bond between fathers and sons.

The article Driving Lessons by Steve Friedman was perhaps my favorite. Telling how the author connected with his father as he tried to teach him golf. Another father to son story. Wonderful.

Fallen Angel tells the story of Bo Belinsky, one of the first wunderkind bonus babies in baseball. Pitching a no hitter his rookie year, he went on to win a total of 28 games. As he said however he took those 28 wins further than anyone else. It was quite a journey and interesting to read.

The saddest story was the tale of Mike Webster in Tormented Soul. Webster the long time All Pro Center of the Steelers died of multiple health problems. He also suffered from dementia type issues, losing his whole life and being in pain a great deal. The backstory is Webster's families attempt to get more out of the NFL Retired players disability program. While it was clear that the program did not do enough for Webster until forced too the claim that he was disabled right after leaving the league seems a stretch.

Some very interesting stories.

The Drive By Truckers

I like to think that I keep up with music. I am sure I do. I have heard about The Drive By Truckers for years. Still, there is only so much music to hear, if radio does not play them. Even WKIT, Stephen King's station ( he is a big fan of theirs ) does not play them.

Another great reason to endorse Spotify is that it is a new version of radio. Now on Facebook your friends can tell you what they listen to and you can try it out. I do not Facebook and have no plans too. I do endorse Spotify however.

The Drive By Truckers are a great band. Much has been made about them being a party band. They are. They are also much more than that. Some of their songs are as affecting as anything I have heard.

Immersed in their Southern culture they do not hide their roots, they stand in them with firmly planted feet. Yet this is not just redneck music. They can do that bit, but much of their music is deeper than this, though the references to Mustangs do seem to add up.

I am in no way an expert, having just found them, I am listening to songs here and there. Thus far songs such as Self Destructive Zones, Everyone Needs Love, Outfit and Three Alabama Icons serve as a pretty strong indication of how good their music is. It is literate and well bred.

Perhaps Three Alabama Icons best tells the story of the bipolar nature of Southern culture. Perhaps it tells the nature of not only the South but all of us.

It's a Fine, Fine Day by Tony Carey

Listening to WBLM the other night I heard this song about two in the morning. It was familiar, I heard it many times back in the day. Still it was a song remembered better than it was enjoyed at the time.

Perhaps it is one of those songs that ages well. Perhaps there is a memory hidden somewhere in my brain associated with that song that I cannot even recall. It could be that the material, being based on reunions, finds the measure of a spot in my soul.

In any case this is a fine song. The deejay told me at two in the morning that Tony Carey was a member of a band called Rainbow before he became a solo singer.

There is so much incredible music, much that we have never heard. More that we have heard and forgotten. It is such an arbitrary process to be successful in the music business.

I do not know much about all of that. I know I like this song.

Nightwoods by Charles Frazier

I read and loved the book Cold Mountain. It was a book that felt like it was written a century ago. Not just for the subject material, being about the Civil War, but in the style of it's writing as well.

For whatever reason Frazier has not been able to follow up his first novel successfully. Perhaps it is true that there are just so many ideas for so many books but Frazier writes this book like a Lifetime movie. Perhaps the best way to describe it is if I had not read who wrote this I would never have taken this to be a book written by a man. Now Frazier is in good company. I was convinced for a long time that Stephen King has Tabitha writing a few of his books years ago, the Dolores Claiborne, Rose Madder phase. Still while it might well be a quirk of mine I do not want to read a book touted as having a bit of a bend toward being literary if not literature and read a woman in danger book.

The characters are broad and not that well written. Just a bad vook. 150 pages in and I had to remind myelf I was under no ovligation to finish. That qas my best choice all day. A bad book .

The Beatles....then, still, and always

I have a CD of Beatles music in the car. It is homemade with some of my favorite selections. I am a music fan. I love Dylan, Springsteen, Zeppelin, U2 and can find plenty of new music to rave about such as The Avett Brothers.

Still, over and over, nothing compares to the Beatles. When one thinks about all the music they made in such a short time. The songs that were leftovers and throwaway cuts to fill their albums were better than anything else you will hear. The Beatles may be the only band that it is impossible to say what your favorite album is.

Yesterday on a drive with to the wife to Panara Bread, love that Cuban Chicken Panini, I heard songs like Dear Prudence, Rocky Raccoon, I'm Only Sleeping, Girl, I've Just Seen a Face and She's Leaving Home. These songs were not hits. They are album cuts. Still they are better than anything you will hear anywhere else. Perhaps it is because we have heard these songs so much but there is nothing better.

We have Beatles books, Beatles Rock Star, Beatles music after the breakup. They are the greatest. They always will be.

Andy Rooney

I love Andy Rooney. Reading several obituaries in the last 24 hours what is noted over and over is that the art of being a curmudgeon is one that has left American entertainment. Through the fifties and sixties they were everywhere on television, in the newspaper but now it is a failing art.

They have been replaced, one could say, with the did you ever notice type of comedian such as Jerry Seinfeld, or the many blue comedians such as Lewis Black.

However we all know a curmudgeon. We all have an uncle who complains about young people. Heck in our house I guess I could easily be called a curmudgeon. One who regrets the loss of the America of his youth or least the America of his imaginative youth.

Rooney was a patriot. This young man flew with pilots in World War Two while reporting for Stars and Stripes. He went to work as a writer on television in the early days and had a long standing working relationship with the late Harry Reasoner. For all that however, Rooney, will always be known and remembered for his work on Sixty Minutes.

He could talk about the most trivial of things and have you agreeing with him. I remember his talk about a car being the one place where an individual could control everything in his atmosphere. The seat, the temperature, the speed of travel, the air flow, the entertainment or lack thereof. Rooney got in trouble sometimes, talking about Kurt Cobain or homosexuality. Still we need not embrace all of a mans ideas to respect the man.

Rooney was a man due much respect. He believed in his country. He believed in his generation and like all of us was a little fearful for our future based on the comparison of what he had known and what he was seeing. Do we not all feel that way a bit now and then.

I think what we need our less angry comedians and more thoughtful curmudgeons. We all will miss Uncle Andy. I know I will.

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott

One of the first books I ever read myself. I might have been eight or so. When I say the first book I ever read, I mean real book. This was a real book, with no pictures etc. So I found this on IBooks free.

Reading it I enjoyed the first few chapters. The story of young Nat's arrival to the Plumfield home for boys. The story is sweet all the way through. The refurbishment of Dan, the rough boy that Nat brings to the home is one that we can learn from.

That said about about two thirds through I could not go any further. The book is not a book for an adult. It is drivel. However it is a good book with good morals. I am just not sure that it transfers to this time and place.

Beavis and Butthead

Just the mention of this show gets my wife shaking her head. She insists it is not funny, it is just stupid, it reminds her of her youth ( and her first husband.) I get it. This is not a show to tell the Neilsen folks you are watching when they call with a Survey.

However one thing should be made clear. In it's own way the show is funny. The humor is biting, it is sarcastic and it does make me laugh.

It is hard to use big words to describe what the show is. Laughing at videos and making points in a sarcastic way Beavis and Butthead say many things that we think. They do have a point to make about pop culture. Mix that in with their warped ideas of what is cool and how they can " score" and you get a fairly significant look at our pop culture.

More importantly this is one of the few shows that I always laugh at. A generation ago people laughed at The Three Stooges. Their was nothing edifying about them either.

Rock Center With Brian Williams

In earlier posts it has become quite sure that I like Brian Williams. So I was quite certain that I was interested in this new Newsmagazine. What I am not interested in is one of these week by week murder mysteries that shows like Dateline and 48 hours became.

In this first episode we see Richard Engel sneak into Syria to tell us not so much about the protests, but jow a few brave souls are sneaking out video footage of what is going on behind the wall placed on Western journalist. Williams had a ardonic look at airline boarding and a small chat with Jon Stewart which bordered perhaps on too familiar.

The highlight of the night was Harry Smith's story on Williston, North Dakota. An oil boomtown the story was told as Harry Smith said in a Steinbeckian way . It was fascinating to see these lost souls rolling the dice at a chance for success, living in tents, washing up at Walmart, and hoping that this time life works it out.

I think this show will get better, be more crisp and make great use of the great cast of reporters. That said, even as it is, I will always give Brian Williams my attention.

Boomerang by Micheal Lewis

This book, a follow up to Lewis's book The Big Short has Lewis traveling the globe to visit countries deeply affected by the financial crisis of 2008. Starting in Iceland, it being the first country to go broke, he investigates how this country convinced itself it was full of financial masterminds as its three major banks grew at astronomical rates in the last decade. Next we visit Ireland and see how Ireland became one big housi ng bubble. At one point during the bubble Ireland's financial numbers indicated it was the wealthiest country in the world. Lewis investigates this and finds it was all housing. People selling houss for more and more money to each orher and calling themselves rich as they walk in spikes on top of the bubble.

Lewis talks about how in Ireland and other Western countries protecting individual depositors makes sense but that protecting bondholders is ludicrous. He mentions one bondholder as the collapse starting trying to sell at fifty cents on the dollar only to find no market. The next morni g he woke to find that the Irishgovernment had decided to cover all the bondholdes losses as well.

We see Geeece a country that made up fake months to pay their employees for to increase their benefits. Ecen today we see the news and know they are n the frontlines of the default crisis. They as a country and culture do not seem to understand the realities they are facing.

Perhaps most worriisome is when Lewis turns to America. When he examines the amunts owed and unfunded to pensioners in this countey it is easy to see what is coming. Looking at California as the canary in the coal mine we examine the administration of Arnold Schwarzeneger. He took office on a recall and yet thinking he could vridge the gap between the extermists on both sides found himself sponsering reasonable referendum measures. All went down t defeat.

The problems in California are manifest. Legislative districts drawn to protect liberals or conservatives. Thus there is no gain in compromise, in fact those that do will be punished. In California and presumaby elsewhere Americans want all the services they have always had but do not want to pay for them. So we borrow and borrow. It is a terrifying assesment. I truly do not know if we in this country have the mettle to withstand rhe economic crisis that are on the way.


This is not a Stephen King book. It is scarier.

The Walking Dead

Our newest show, and when I say ours I mean mine as the wife will not have anything to do with it, is The Walking Dead. When this series appeared last fall I had little interest. The commercials made it look like it was more zombie than story.

Still the reviews were very strong and when the first episode debuted to ratings that broke records I wondered if I was missing something. So I started watching.

In watching it becomes quickly apparent that the show is not so much as a zombie show as one of many aployptic shows that have come and gone that happens to also feature zombies.

The cast is not full of people you know. Andrew Lincoln plays Sherriff's Deputy Rick Grimes, as close to a traditional hero as you might find. The show starts strong. A member of a group of survivors is chained to a pipe on a roof in Zombie infested Atlanta. His brother, who as the show goes on becomes more and more likable, is not too happy about this and blames the Sherriff.

Still as time goes on the group has to get through obstacle after obstacle. Season 1 ends with the group learning that the CDC in Atlanta will not save them. Thus far in Season 2 we have lost a little girl in the woods and had a boy shot by accident. On the plus side more survivors who seem to be good folks have been found. With eleven more episodes scheduled for this season much is to be determined.

The story is strong, the characters have depth. For me some of the characters are a bit much, the Sherriff speaks too eloquently about his feelings, his wife has conflicts of her own and the blonde girl who just wants her gun needs to settle down but overall this show is full on great.

The zombies are not that scary,,more like comic book gore.

Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths

Growing up in the eighties everyone had heard of the Smith's. Of course in small town Maine they were not the most popular band or anything close but still their music was all over the college radio and one could not see one of the teen angst drama's without hearing them.

Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want is on several movie soundtracks of the eighties and a fresh listen today tells why. The song is applicable to every teenager who ever lived. They all dream, they all want, and they all want those to come together. They rarely do and thus the lifetime membership in the angst club for this song.

If they put down the rap record kids today would easily embrace this song. It will never cease to be relevant.

Bad Teacher

What to do on a Saturday night as you wait for the snow to start flying and ruin your Halloween decorations. Netflix is cancelled so you have not ordered a movie and cannot stream one. You go to the RedBox ( which now lets you reserve a movie ) and rent Bad Teacher for a dollar.

I am not a Cameron Diaz fan. I think her movie roles have gotten crasser and crasser and after having seen her on a few talk shows I am not sure she is a person that comes across as particularly likeable. That said with Jason Segal and others the movie had potential.

Quickly however the movie becomes a one joke, and not a good joke, pony. Diaz is a bad teacher. She does not try. She drinks, smokes, and curses......at school. Trying to seduce the new teacher ( Justin Timberlake) who she presumes to be wealthy she loses him to a rival teacher. A teacher that loves teaching and is just a little too peppy.


The car wash scene is gratioutus and over time even Miss Halsey ( Diaz ) comes to realize just how superficial she has become. By the end of the movie she has had a revalation and decided that everyman gym teacher is a better choice. Jason Segal is very likable in this role.

Not a great movie though. Not one I can reccomend. In fact two of the movies I have panned lately have been Justin Timberlake movies. He needs to make better choices.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

I enjoyed Tale of Two Cities. Great Expectations however was a wonderful novel. There may not be enough adjectives to describe it. A great story. Having long heard of the characters of Pip and Miss Havisham I now know the story.

This book takes the long way around the barn. Eventually all the characters come together and it all makes sense but for awhile one wonders how Orlick, Estella, The Convict and others will all come together.

In the story we meet Pip and learn of his hardscrabble existence living out on the marshes with his sister ( who is none to pleasant to him in bringing him up by hand ) and his sister's husband Joe. Joe, through the course of the book becomes a sainted character. Over time Pip has a run in with a convict and little to his knowledge his small act of kindness to him will change his life forever. Eventually Pip is called upon to visit the rich, eccentric widow Miss Havisham. She, with her ward Estella keep Pip betwixt and between knowing who he is and who he wants to be.

The plot has many twists and turns. If this book was one assigned to you in high school and thus one you fought hard not to read or enjoy you should try again. Now because you want to. Once you realize that it is a story you would have picked up had you known you will enjoy it much better.

Pip is a character not too be forgotten. A fantastic book.

Horses by Patti Smith

This album is from 1975. 36 years ago Patti Smith, who had been in NYC scene for onto a decade appeared with this album like few things before it.

Smith who is now in the middle of a renaissance of her career with music and books and writing for The New Yorker in the late sixties and seventies was palling around Robert Mapplethorpe.

This album is one I have heard referenced for years but never listened. I do not recall ever hearing any of the tracks on the radio even the more out there channels I have taken to listening to.

Still critic after critic quotes it's importance. Listening to it is an experience. The album opens with a version of Gloria that is, like everything Smith does, uniquely hers. The album is not sing along music. It is to me landscape music. It is background music.

None so much as the twin epic tracks Land and Birdland. I can hear these songs in unwritten movies in my mind at times where one stays up late in a darkened room and drinks or smokes by their lonely self. Staring at the red or green lights of the stereo and considering the depth of their despair or the ineffectual place they have in the world.

That might seem a stretch but what is not a stretch is Smith in her talk sing way paints a portrait like the poet/artist she clearly is.

Land, with it's constant references to Horses is where we get the album title. I have listened several times and cannot pretend to know what it is all about. I do know there are many references to rock and roll history and assume one could teach a course on the cultural landmarks referenced.

My favorite track is Birdland. Similar in scope to Land but with a jazzier background this IS one of the best songs you can hear to entertain your demons with. I have many times listened to Neil Young in the Everyone Knows This is Nowhere phase to comfort myself or acknowledge myself with alcohol and self medicate myself into calmness when life was too much. It seems clear to me that had I been exposed to Birdland in those days Patti Smith would have been on that Playlist as well.

Kimberly and Eligie are two more songs that are strongly reccomended but to be honest I need to hear them more.

In anycase this album is all it is promised to be. Art. It is art from a disjointed time to listen to in any disjointed time in your life.

Fantastic.

Seven Days in May

This is a great movie. Directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by Rod Serling no less this movie from 1964 tells the tale of a military coup planned for the United States by an unhappy military.

Later interviews revealed that President Kennedy felt that under the right circumstances such an event could happen in the United States.

In the movie Col Jiggs Casey becomes aware of a plot within the Joint Chiefs of Staff to depose the President. The Chiefs are led by Air Force General James Mattoon Scott. This General is the charasmatic leader of the coup. Believing that the President is a weak leader being taken advantage of by the Russians. Scott, played conviningly by Burt Lancaster is a true beleiver.

Frederic March plays the President and is perfect for the role. Playing a Midwestern liberal with ease the role of President Lyman is not far a huge stretch from his role of the banker in The Best Years of Our Lives.

The movie is dramatic, suspenseful and could easily be converted to the screens today. Of course today they would curse, have sex and blow things up.

Once Upon a Time

Fairy tales seem to be a hot subject for the networks this year. Grimm will be starting on NBC later this week and this past Sunday ABC rolled out Once Upon a Time a show about, as expected from the title, fairy tale characters.

Of course the hitch here is that these people do not know they are fairy tale characters. Why? This is all explained in the pilot episode.

The show opens with Prince Charming and Snow White? getting married. I think it is Snow White, there were lots of dwarfs around, and she was woken by a kiss after a spell had been put on her. The wedding is interupted by a witch of some sort who puts a curse on everyone.

Awaiting the curse beginning the characters, such as Geppetto and Pinochio, build an enchanted wardrobe which will allow one person to be saved from the curse. The rest are to be sent " to an awful place"

Fast forward 28 years and a young woman named Emma is celebrating her 28th birthday. A young boy enters her life and claims that she is his mother, she did give up a child for adoption ten years ago. He has a story to tell about the town he lives in which seems a little unbelievable. When she returns the boy home to his adoptive mother things start to make sense...but not in a good way

I do not hold out much hope for the success of the show. One never knows however. Ginnifer Goodwin from Big Love is a gem in any role and she does a great job in this show as the schoolteacher/ former princess.

Worth a look but I would not get too invested.

Win Win

My wife's sister saw this movie at the theater when it was released. I have heard much good buzz about it and when my wife got it from RedBox we were looking forward to it.

Writer/Director Thomas McCarthy who is gaining traction as a great writer with an interesting slant on films jumps up a notch with this film. One expects that soon he will have a major, breakout, Oscar worthy film.

The cast in this movie is strong. Paul Giametti who might be one of our best actors stars as Mike Flaherty a New Jersey lawyer who is struggling to get enough cases to make ends meet. He also is a volunteer wrestling coach at the local high school. Needless to say the team is not successful and Flaherty is being beaten down by the world.

Having been hired pro bono to help an elderly man who, while wealthy, has no family to take care of him. Mike notices that whosoever does become his guardian gets paid a fifteen hundred dollar a month commission. Mike lobbies for the job and then unethically puts him in a home rather than keep him in his house.

Eventually this leads him to a young high school student named Kyle played by Alex Shaffer who is his new ward's grandson. Kyle is an excellent wrestler so you can see where that goes.

This movie is better than a description makes it sound. The characters are real and deep and flawed. This movie is wonderful.

Of special note is the performance by Burt Young as the elderly man who becomes Mike's ward. Any of us who grew up in the seventies cannot forget Burt Young from the Rocky movies. He is wonderful in this role.

Great movie

They Marched Into Sunlight by David Marannis

This is a book I picked up at the library that looked interesting. The book tells the tale of an army battalion in Vietnam and a protest at the University of Wisconsin. Both occur in October, 1967, often with events occurring on the same days to both story lines.

Marannis is an excellent writer and he draws us into being interested in the characters, real people all, who are involved in Vietnam and the protest in Madison. We learn their personal histories and motivations.

For me though what became apparent is the book could not hold me. It is my disinterest in things military. I am sure the book is well written and in the case of the battle thr soldiers get in, one in which too many die it is tragic. Still one of the things I have read about reading is that some books are good, some are great, and they will not interest you. This is one of those books. So at about one hundred pages I threw in the towel.

Still my respect for Marannis requires me to encourage anyone who would enjoy both the character development and military minuate to read this book. It is well written and the story of the Dow protests was for me especially interesting.

Pearl Jam Twenty

Our local PBS affiliate did us the great service of airing this on Friday night. Cameron Crowe's rock documentary was well received earlier this year and I was surprised to see it on television so soon.

When released I had heard some buzz that the movie was a bit controversial in that some of the band members had said somethings that could possibly open some healed scars in the band. Any group of people, certainly any band that had stayed together this long was going to have some scabs better not picked.

This movie is excellent. Perhaps along the line of the Tom Petty Running Down a Dream set from Peter Bogdanovich this is done not like a rock bands video tribute but as an actual documentary. Using what apparrently is an unending supply of archival footage both interview and concert we see Pearl Jam through all its stages.

First one must know is that this band came out of the remaining pieces of Mother Love Bone a hot Seattle band that died when its lead singer overdosed. Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard the heart and soul of that band became the nucleus of what became Pearl Jam.

At there early days the band was crazy on stage with an energy rarely seen. Vedder jumping off support structures to surf the crowd. The band joining with Chris Cornell and members of Soundgarden did a project called Temple of the Dog which honored their fallen comrade from Mother Love Bone Days.

The loss of Kurt Cobain is discussed as is the even more life changing event of the deaths of nine fans outside of Copenhagen when they were crushed by a surging crowd as the band played. Eddie Vedder says they see the band as pre and post that incident.

The concert footage is revealing. A Christmas song played on the empty steps of an arena in Europe, a crowd singalong to Better Man at Madison Square Garden and a final glorious ending of the film with the song Alive. Truly they are still Alive twenty years later and going strong.

This is a fine picture of a lasting rock band. Thank you PBS for putting it on television for us to view.

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins

This book with a wordy subtitle of Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School talks about the various social strata that develop in Junior High and High School.

In the book Robbins introduces us to several students across the country who could be classified in the various subcultures prevalent in teen age life today. In truth these are to a great extent the same groups that we faced as kids. Nerds, Geeks, Jocks, Popular kids, Stoners and beyond. It would seem that there are many more subgroups such as Punks, Goths and Emo's whose description can be found in the book.

The thrust of the book is to try to explore the cliques and how the interactions of students can mar the high school experience. What seems to be clear is that with the exception of perhaps a few king and queen bees there are a great majority of students who are not happy, or if not unhappy certainly not excited about their lives on a day to day basis.

I have memories of my high school experience. I had many friends and hung out with popular kids but I was not one of the popular kids. I played sports but was not one of the better athletes. I grew late which hurt my prospects. One of the experiences I remember was that my senior year I decided that I wanted to be friends with everybody, from several different cliques with no allegiances to anyone in particular. This did not go over well with some folks, for a period of time I had succeeded in pissing everybody off. Eventually it died down and I did not regret my decision. In fact I think it helped prepare me for college.

As I watch my own children at age 16,14 and 12 I wish that I could impart to them the wisdom of this book. We have many times told them that high school is just one experience and that no one wants high school to be the peak of their lives and for those that find great social success in high school that is often the case. However what we say and what they live are two different things and it is much easier to be wise and generous in thought twenty years later as an adult.

For parents this is a good book. Perhaps to me the most eye opening section was when it talked about the cligues in teacher groups and how it can effect students. My wife is a teacher and though she has not experienced it I am sure that in a more diverse area these things do come up. Also addressed were parents who wanted their children to be more popular and encouraged them to do more things that popular kids did. The lesson is that for these kids on the " cafateria fringe" to have a great chance of success outside of the constrictions of high school the most important thing is to feel support from their parents to be themselves and that they were good as they were.

Parents need to know this.

A very enlightening book but it it's subject matter at times a very depressing one.