A few days in the life

Apparently, there are actually blogs that do nothing but note all the things that happen in people's lives. I've been resistant to that, but I'm inclined to note the last few days in some detail. I suppose I could have made these many Twitter posts - and be mocked - but frankly have been too busy.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4
After racquetball, go to the dentist. He'd put a crown in last fall, but he was dissatisfied with the spacing between my teeth, where food would get caught, so he's doing a redo gratis. It may be free, but it's not free of discomfort. Also takes longer than planned and I miss my bus - another one doesn't come for 2.5 hours, but my colleague picks me up.
End of the day, wife drops off daughter at my work to take home, so wife can go to meetings, one work-related, the other at church. Unfortunately, she can't find the first meeting and the second one is canceled.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5
Father-Child Pancake Breakfast at daughter's daycare. That was nice, but I had to break up a couple boys who were literally about to come to blows over toy dinosaurs. A friend of mine that I've only known since 1958, whose birthday is today, BTW, suggested over four years ago that it's probably a good thing I had a daughter rather than a son. I didn't understand at the time, but I think I do now.

FINALLY take items to the post office. This was something I was going to do on December 20, along with finishing the Christmas letter; the wife had edited what I had wrote. But I NEEDED just that one day, and when I ended up taking care of my sick child instead - and into the evening, because the wife had a meeting - not only did the window of opportunity go away, but so did a whole bunch of my holiday mojo. I was actually quite melancholy over it for weeks. I never did complete the letter - that weekend was impossibly full, and the presents, bought weeks before, never got sent. So, on this day, packages to my mother and sisters, plus some other items to Eddie, Tom the Mayor, Scott and a woman in Canada finally went out the door. (I STILL haven't sent to Lefty Brown's friend Anthony, because I don't have his address.)

Take bus downtown. At my stop, Washington and Lark, is a fire truck, with an EMT truck pulling up. There's a guy they need to defibrillate sitting outside the kiosk; it's cold - could they not have done this in a vehicle? While this was going on, an ambulance and another fire truck stop a block away at Dove and Washington. What's going on there?

My bus shows up, but not a half block on my journey, a car pulls out of its parking space and hits the bus I'm on. No one was hurt; in fact, I barely noticed. But the bus driver had to wait for the police and the CDTA supervisor. Fortunately,the bus company sent another vehicle less than 25 minutes later to finish the trek.

That evening, a first rehearsal with our new church choir director, Janet Davis, followed by a gathering at the home of the interim director, Chris, who lives in this quite historic house (once the home of the Albany Conservatory, and before that, a Presbyterian manse).

FRIDAY, MARCH 6

I heard that on the news that Albany High School will be delayed two hours because of the presence of Fred Phelps, who I mentioned here. This is actually something I've known for over a week ago but was told not to report, lest Freddy and the schemers be tipped off. So after I dropped off Lydia, I did what I suggested others not do - go to the high school. Across the street from the school there were the Westboro people well outnumbered by he counterdemonstrators. Most of the good guys were well behaved and spoke on their megaphones about Christian love.

Then people went in two different directions. Some, including me, went downtown to SUNY Central to rally where Phelps said he'd be on his website; evidently, he finally figured out that this WASN'T the campus and didn't show. Still about 150 people (way more than the 50 the Times Union reported) made some noise and got lots of support from the passersby.

Meanwhile, the others went uptown at the not optimal (read: busily dangerous) Fuller Road and Washington Avenue, where the Phelps people ended up. That also went well, according to reports. Incidentally, there was ALSO a fairly large rally Thursday night in front of City Hall, where the mayor - who's running for ere-election this year, unsurprisingly - showed up.

[We interrupt this blog to note End the Lies, a a new website showing some of the worst perpetrators of lies about GLBT people. Now back to the narrative.]

I had received a $50 gift certificate from the Downtown Business Improvement District in a drawing I barely remember entering for a place called Salon 109 at 109 State Street in Albany, so I opted to get a massage there. It was...WONDERFUL. Later, had lunch with my wife - this almost never happens - as we partook of an especially very good buffet of Indian food.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7 (yes, it was my birthday)

Very busy time in my house, with one person, John, fixing our oven that's been out six days and our hall lights that had been out for over six months, someone else, Bonnie, cleaning the house, and lengthy conversations with both of my sisters and aforementioned old friend - HB, Sara Lee).

Played backgammon for an hour with the Hoffinator and a couple games of hearts with her and friend Orchid; I shot on the last hand to win the second game. Game playing - just what I wanted as a present. The Obama speeches book, the racquetball equipment and the Clapton 2004 DVD were just bonuses.

SUNDAY, MARCH 8

Church youth did Godspell Jr. It was excellent; surprisingly moving.
The weather is warming and I took Lydia to the playground for the first time this year. The ground is muddy, but the wood chip base around the slides is absorbent and not too bad.

That's enough.

ROG

20 Women I Admire

I have opted to list just American women, merely as a way to limit it. It is NOT a list of THE 20 Women I Most Admire. Actually, it was the first 20 that came to mind.

Abigail Adams
The wife of the second U.S. president and mother of the sixth used her "intellect and lively wit" to prod progress for women "in her many letters which were preserved."

Jane Addams (pictured) "founded Hull-House in the 19th century and led it well into the 20th. She was also active in peace and feminist work."

Clara Barton
She was a "pioneering nurse who served as an administrator in the Civil War, and who helped identify missing soldiers at the end of the war, is credited as the founder of the American Red Cross."

Rachel Carson
With Silent Spring, she "wrote the book that helped create the environmentalist movement in the late 20th century.

Judy Collins
"Part of the 1960s folk revival and still popular today," her music affected me greatly even before I received "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" for my 16th birthday - 40 years ago! I also had a chance to see her live, which was a true joy.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (pictured)
A progressive voice on the Supreme Court in spite her recent cancer.

Katharine Graham
She was the Washington Post publisher who "took over the family business after her husband's suicide and saw it through the Watergate scandal."

Billie Jean King
Not only a fine tennis player, she worked hard to get women players better pay.

Laura Linney
My favorite working actress. Here's a tease for the award-winning John Adams miniseries on HBO, which I have not yet seen. It features Linney as Abigail Adams - a twofer!

Jessica Mitford
She wrote The American way of Death, an expose of the funeral industry, which has a profound affect on my view of life...and death.

Mary Tyler Moore
The star of two of my favorite television shows ever (The Dick Van Dyke Show and her eponymously-named show), she has also been a speaker on what they used to call "juvenile diabetes" and stem-cell research.

Toni Morrison (pictured)
Possibly the author I've read the most.

Rosa Parks
There's so much myth around her defining act. She wasn't just tired, as this narrative shows.

Eleanor Roosevelt
The wife of FDR took "positions on issues like civil rights...often ahead of her husband and the rest of the country. She was key in establishing the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights."

Margaret Sanger (pictured)

She responded to "seeing the suffering caused by unwanted and unplanned pregnancies among the poor women she served as a nurse" by taking up "a lifetime cause: the availability of birth control information and devices."

Gloria Steinem
The editor of Ms. magazine. I was a charter subscriber. What more is there to say?

Harriet Tubman
The "Underground Railroad conductor during American slavery was also a Civil War nurse and spy, and an advocate of civil rights."

Sojourner Truth
Best "known as an abolitionist...she was also a preacher and spoke for women's rights. She was one of the most in-demand speakers of the mid-19th century in America."

Madam C.J. Walker (pictured)

She was the first great black entrepreneur, turning her hair care product sales into a business empire.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias
A multi-sport athlete, she excelled in most of them.

Quotes from About.com.

ROG

Roger QUESTION

Concept totally stolen from my good buddy Fred Hembeck.


Joe DiMaggio and yours truly--think you can figure out the connection?

I suppose if you look at a post of mine from last year, it might help.


ROG

Fair use

If you follow the comic book blogs, there's been a war of words over whether the demise of Scans Daily, which showed some comic book pages and commented on them, is a defeat for the comic book consumer or a victory for the comic book creator. (You can read about it lots of places - I'm picking the narrative by Gordon because his narrative is short, concise, not vitriolic - and because today is his birthday.)

All of the articles I've seen make use of the term "fair use". Ive copied the copyright page brochure on fair use, which I'm going to use in its entirety without concern, because it's a federal government website and stuff produced by the federal government, with rare exceptions, cannot be copyrighted. The Boston Globe famously published the Declaration of Independence on July 4 a few years back and slapped on a (c) Boston Globe; nice try, that.

But, first, here's the core paragraph:
The distinction between “fair use” and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.

"Not easily defined." That means that, short of taking a recent book, pulling off the cover, and re-covering it as one's own, it just ain't that easy.

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the Copyright Act (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of "fair use." Although fair use was not mentioned in the previous copyright law, the doctrine has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years. This doctrine has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered "fair," such as criticism, which is what Scans Daily was claiming to do, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
In other words, if I use your copyrighted item, will I be profiting from it financially?
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
Here's an example. If I find a photograph of a cover of a record album and use it, there's enough law out there that says that I'm PROBABLY safe. That is UNLESS that photo is "transformative" and captures the album cover in a new and artistic way.
3. amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
As librarians, we struggle with this all the time. A couple pages is OK; a whole chapter? Well, how many chapters ARE there?
and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
In other words, if I use your copyrighted item, will you be suffering from it financially? It seems that the courts have leaned heavily on this fourth point in determining whether it's "fair use".

The distinction between "fair use" and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission.
In my first year doing this blog, I did a series of pieces about a book by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon in which comic strips were done with a supposed African-American perspective. It was difficult to explain without showing specific examples. So I ended up actually showing about one panel in four. I felt a bit wasier about this because, as far as I can ascerttain, the book is out of print; certainly, I've never seen it on Amazon. Did I make the "right" decision concerning copyright? I dunno.

The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: "quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied;
Parody, the stock in trade of MAD magazine, e.g., is a huge one, not previously mentioned.
summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy;
As a matter of fact, our library HAS done this, rarely.
reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson;
Elsewhere in copyright law, there's the mention of "spontaneity". Let's say you're a teacher and you happen across an article in a magazine you thought would illustrate the lesson plan. You might make the case for making 20 copies of the article. Say, though, it's next semester; deciding to copy that same article would hardly be considered spontaneous.
reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported."

Copyright protects the particular way an author has expressed himself; it does not extend to any ideas, systems, or factual information conveyed in the work.
So a second book on the same historical event as the first is not in violation of copyright, unless the second book substantially lifts the WORDS used to describe the event.

The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.
I was surprised to get in a discussion with a librarian about the AP copyright infringement case over Obama's image. She thought Shepard Fairey should have sought permission from the AP to use the picture. I, having worked with artists, tend to see the work as transformative, tend to side with Fairey. (She also thinks Fairey is arrogant, which is probably true, but irrelevant.) I suspect it would be less of an issue had Fairey not been making lots of money from the image.

When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of "fair use" would clearly apply to the situation.
Except that this document has already stated that when fair use would "clearly apply" does not exist.
The Copyright Office can neither determine if a certain use may be considered "fair" nor advise on possible copyright violations. If there is any doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney.
Thus keeping attorneys employed for another generation.
ROG

Presidents

Yeah, I know it came out a bit ago, that Presidential ranking story.

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about GWB; too soon.
It seems that Kennedy is higher than I would have thought. Lot of potential for greatness, but the uptick is surprising.
Polk, with his unnecessary war mongering (Mexican War), also seems high.
Jackson's Trail of Tears alone lowers him.
What caused Grant's rise? Nothing comes to mind. But at least he wasn't Hayes, whose end of Reconstruction gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow, and whose downturn is well warranted.
Jimmy Carter seems low, not because I thought he was a great President, but because even his component scores seem low. 14th in honesty?
Really can't argue the top 4 or the bottom 10 too much.

President's Name Score Overall Ranking
2009 2000
Abraham Lincoln 902- 1/ 1
George Washington 854- 2/ 3
Franklin D. Roosevelt 837- 3/ 2
Theodore Roosevelt 781- 4/ 4
Harry S. Truman 708- 5/ 5
John F. Kennedy 701- 6/ 8
Thomas Jefferson 698- 7/ 7
Dwight D. Eisenhower 689- 8/ 9
Woodrow Wilson 683- 9/ 6
Ronald Reagan 671- 10/ 11
Lyndon B. Johnson 641- 11/ 10
James K. Polk 606- 12/ 12
Andrew Jackson 606- 13/ 13
James Monroe 605- 14/ 14
Bill Clinton 605- 15/ 21
William McKinley 599- 16/ 15
John Adams 545- 17/ 16
George H. W. Bush 542- 18/ 20
John Quincy Adams 542- 19/ 19
James Madison 535- 20/ 18
Grover Cleveland 523- 21/ 17
Gerald R. Ford 509- 22/ 23
Ulysses S. Grant 490- 23/ 33
William Howard Taft 485- 24/ 24
Jimmy Carter 474- 25/ 22
Calvin Coolidge 469- 26/ 27
Richard M. Nixon 450- 27/ 25
James A. Garfield 445- 28/ 29
Zachary Taylor 443- 29/ 28
Benjamin Harrison 442- 30/ 31
Martin Van Buren 435- 31/ 30
Chester A. Arthur 420- 32/ 32
Rutherford B. Hayes 409- 33/ 26
Herbert Hoover 389- 34/ 34
John Tyler 372- 35/ 36
George W. Bush 362- 36/ NA
Millard Fillmore 351- 37/ 35
Warren G. Harding 327- 38/ 38
William Henry Harrison 324- 39/ 37
Franklin D. Pierce 287- 40/ 39
Andrew Johnson 258- 41/ 40
James Buchanan 227- 42/ 41


ROG

G is for Green

When I give out my name on the phone, I usually spell out R-O-G-E-R and say, "Green, like the color". As often as not, the reply is, "Is that with an E?" I thought, since my last name is Green (not Greene), that I'd reflect on the color green. Of course, no analysis is more clear than the late Joe Raposo's meditation, Bein' green.

It's not that easy bein' green

Green is a secondary color, comprised of blue and yellow

Having to spend each day
The color of the leaves
JEOPARDY! clue, 5 Feb 09 in Basic Science: "The name of this green pigment found in plants is partly from the Greek for 'green'

When I think it could be nicer
Bein' red or yellow or gold
Or something much more colorful like that

Of course, autumn leaves ARE those colors; they are also dying.

It's not easy bein' green
One of the most popular children's songs in MY neighborhood was "Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts"; heard THAT a lot.

It seems you blend in
With so many other ordinary things

Of course, kids tease, as they do. the one name I was called the most, which actually didn't much bother me, is Mr. Green Jeans, the sidekick on the long-running, CBS-TV weekday morning show, Captain Kangaroo. He was played by the late Hugh "Lumpy" Brannum.

And people tend to pass you over
One of the definitions of green is inexperienced, like a greenhorn rookie

'Cause you're not standing out
Like flashy sparkles in the water
Or stars in the sky
Though in fact, many animals either are green or can turn green as protection from predators, using it as camouflage.

But green's the color of spring
(Will spring ever arrive?)

And green can be cool
Green Tambourine - the Lemon Pipers

(and here's a cover version)

and friendly like
The persistent Sam I Am in Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Seuss' birthday was Monday)



And green can be big like an ocean
Or important like a mountain
Green means go. And speaking of which, Garrett Augustus Morgan (1877-1963) developed several commercial products, many of which are still in use today. Morgan is probably best known for inventing the gas mask and the traffic light.

Or tall like a tree
I must admit unwarranted joy when the conversation comes around to going green, meaning being environmental.

When green is all there is to be

When i was in college, I'd occasionally hear the punchline to the movie Soylent Green,, starring Charlton Heston, directed at me, long before I got around actually seeing the film; talk about a spoiler!

It could make you wonder why
But why wonder, why wonder?
About the only time I ever read either Green Lantern or Green Arrow comic books is when they appeared together in that Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams series

I am green and it'll do fine
It's beautiful and I think it's what I want to be

The song has been performed by a number of folks including Frank Sinatra, and that guy born on the Emerald Isle, Van Morrison. still the best version starts off like this from the star of Sesame Street and the Muppet Show:

Greetings, Kermit the Frog here
And today I'd like to tell you a little bit
About the color green
Do you know what's green?
Well I am for one thing
You see frogs are green, and I'm a frog
And that means I'm green, you see



JEOPARDY! question: What is chlorophyll?
ROG

25 Random Things

I was reading The random beauty of "25 Random Things" in Salon. I'm not that great a Facebook participant, I guess, since I have not been "tagged" to do this. Yet the article made it so appealing, I thought I'd do it here and crosspost in Facebook. I'm trying not to repeat myself, but I make no guarantees.

1. I lived in the Binghamton, NY house I grew up in for 18 years. I've spent nearly the last nine years in my current home. In the intervening 28 or 29 years, I moved at least 20 times.

2. I couldn't tie my shoes until I was nine; I wore penny loafers, with real pennies in them.

3. I received, for one marking period, an F in handwriting in third grade.

4. Conversely, I received a 100 in the fifth grade spelling final.

5. In elementary school, some kids were playing keep away with my hat. I got annoyed, hopped a Crowley's milk truck and went home.

6. The first girl I ever kissed, when I was 13, is in one of the same social network things as I am, but I've had no contact.

7. I was reading the op/ed pages of the local newspaper when I was 10. I was much older before I realized that not every 10-year-old read the op/ed pages.

8. My paternal grandmother taught me to play canasta when I was about seven; I then taught it to my great aunt.

9. I took apart the door lock to my home to see how it worked, but couldn't get it back together; my father was annoyed but not particularly angry, and I think my curiosity pleased him more than the need to get a new lock bothered him.

10. There was this novelization of an I Spy TV episode that I used to read all of the time as a kid. It's where I learned the term "hoist by his own petard"; in the case of the story, this was literally true.

11. My father used to come to my classroom every semester and sing to the class. One of the songs was "Goodnight, Irene", and everyone thought I had put my father up to this, assuming I had a crush on the girl named Irene in my class; to both parts, I did not.

12. My fifth grade teacher taught us to count to 10 in Russian; I can still do so.

13. I used to read the Encyclopedia Americana and the World Almanac from the time I was 9 or 10, including those EA annuals.

14. There was this girl in 7th grade who had a major thing for me. Her friend was always passing me notes and everyone assumed the friend was the one with the crush on me. About four years later, the young woman with the crush moved next door to us, with two babies in tow. Yikes.

15. My father, sister and I used to sing in the Binghamton area. The best-paid gig was also the worst one, at a VFW hall in front of a bunch of drunken guys. Someone requested The Battle Hymn of the Republic, not generally in our repertoire, which my sister and I sang, and my father sang as a counter-melody, "what a hell of a way to go."

16. I was student government president in high school. The principal was throwing people into detention for walking on the school lawn. So I held a meeting on the sidealk, and the body voted to have its meeting on the lawn. Later, I walked passed the principal's office, and he growled, "I hope you're satisfied." Actually, I was.

17. I had a button that read, "Kiss me - I'm germ free". I lent it to a friend of mine and it was confiscated. He wore it on the seat of his pants; I never did get the button back.

18. I used to go to parties in high school. Sometimes when I was not having a particularly good time, I'd hide in the attic or basement or a closet to see if anyone would miss me. It wasn't intended as attention-getting, it was insecurity; I had my doubts that they actually WOULD miss me.

19. I applied to only one college, which is where my high school girlfriend was going. But by the time I got to college, she had broken up with me.

20. The husband of a friend of mine had committed suicide and she had asked not to tell the means of his demise because she had young children. I concocted an elaborate story which I told so often to our mutual friends that I was convinced it was true, until the point she released me from my bond of secrecy. Then I had to remember who I had told the lie to so that I could tell them the truth.

21. I went to a number of antiwar demonstrations, mostly in DC and NYC, in the early 1970s. One NYC rally my friends I I lleft after a number of hours, turned on the radio miles away, but still within the city limits, and discoverded that John Lennon was speaking at the rally we had only recently left. Bummer.

22. I went to grad school in public administration at UAlbany in 1979-80. I was immediately disadvantaged because for the whole first week, I was bedridden with an infection that was running from my toenail up my leg, which might have killed me. So I was always behind, it was extremely competitive (cf the cooperative vibe of library school a decade later). It was a disaster and I dropped out, ending up working at a comic book store for 8.5 years instead.

23. On at least three occasions, I quit jobs with no new job lined up.

24. I'm terrible remembering names, and it's not just at parties. I might see a teller at a bank for three years, then she'd leave and I'd see her six months later. More often than not, her name is gone. SHE'S not gone; details about her life I'd recall, but her name: gone. Worse, the other person almost always remembers MY name.

25. About the only thing I truly covet right now is one of those turntable combos that would turn my vinyl into CDs.

ROG

When Hate Comes to Town

I was recently reading the musings of a Buffalo, NY blogger about the recent appearance of "representatives of the Westboro Baptist Church when they showed up to protest the services for the victims of the Continental Airlines plane crash. Nice to see that these nitwits got nowhere with their shenanigans, thanks to lots of local people who showed up to basically marginalize them and make them invisible," including said blogger's parents; more Clarence Center pictures here.

Mow Fred Phelps and his sorry band are making their way to Albany and Plattsburgh, NY on Friday, March 6. There is a silent vigil planned for Thursday, March 5 at 5:30 p.m. in front of the Albany City Hall. (Don't know how "silent" it will be as there will be a rally against the severe budget cuts at the State Capitol - and across the state - at 4:30 p.m. on that same day.)

Then Friday, the WBC is planning to spread its message of hate at Albany High School at 7 a.m. and at SUNY Central (353 Broadway, the old D&H building) at 8:15 a.m. Regarding the former, I have it on reasonably good authority - as I suspect the folks at this website believe, Phelps will be thwarted at the high school. As they write, "This is NOT going to happen."

Whereas Phelps WILL likely do his thing at SUNY Central, where the counter-demonstration should take place. The folks at God Is Love Albany are recommending gathering at 8:15 a.m. on March 6. I plan to come down as soon as I can, on the theory that the WBC people will end up there early as well.

There has been a lively debate on the Facebook page called A stand against the Westboro Baptists Church coming to Albany about the appropriate response to Phelps' presence. As one person said, "I would advise nobody to actually show up. You're giving him exactly what he wants: attention. Let him and his followers stand out there all by themselves and be humiliated."

I appreciate the sentiment but strongly disagree for a couple reasons. I don't think them standing by themselves humiliates them. There are, for instance, people who have demonstrated for peace in front of the state Capitol every Wednesday at noon pretty much since 9/11/2001. Sometimes the group is large (e.g., in the run-up to the Iraq war in the fall of 2002 and early 2003), and sometimes it's just a handful of people. In no case do I think the group does, or should feel humiliated.

Moreover, how does one measure the difference between ignoring Phelps and mere indifference? I feel an obligation, as a Christian, as twice a SUNY graduate, and as a person to respond to the hate, to address the hate. Now it is true that Phelps wants attention. My recommendation is that people not address him or his group - they're notorious in looking for grounds to sue someone - but to be present, ignoring the WBC, but expressing sentiments of love and justice.

It is not quite equivalent, but I'm reminded when the Springboks rugby team from South Africa came to Albany in 1981 and a number of people - yes, including me - came out to protest the match. (Albany writer Paul Grondahl has a great chapter about this incident in his book about long-time mayor Erastus Corning.)

To paraphrase some Kentuckian, history will little note nor long remember the number of people who "ignored" hate; history will only note the number that stood up against it.
***
Yes, the title is a takeoff of probably my favorite U2 song: When love comes to town, with B.B. King.


ROG

old testament music

Once upon a time, probably in the early 1990s, I made a mixed tape of songs that were rooted in the Bible. These were some of them, mostly from the Old Testament. I used Byrds rather than Collins and Collins rather than Cohen, but the rest were the same. Yes, the McFerrin video is weird; just listen to the music.

Our Prayer - SMiLE by Mok


Rock Steady by Sting


Desmond Dekker - The Israelites


Leonard Cohen - Story of Isaac


The Hooters - All You Zombies

Turn, Turn, Turn -Judy Collins with Pete Seeger


BOBBY McFERRIN - The 23rd Psalm - THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD


MELODIANS "RIVERS OF BABYLON" PSALM 137:1


Delta Rhythm Boys - Dry Bones

ROG

This I Believe QUESTION

In her sermon last Sunday, our co-pastor made reference to This I Believe, an NPR show based on a radio show from the 1950s hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

I listed 10 here and thought I'd list 10 more.

You may list your five or 10 or 100 in the comments section or on your own blog; if the latter, please leave a link in the comments section:

Most people worry way too much about what other people think and do.

Mark Twain was right: It IS better to remain silent and appear ignorant than to speak up and remove any doubt.

Smokers do often feel oppressed in the U.S.; I don't care. (Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society.)

JEOPARDY! is not improved by letting people play more than five games in a row.

My life would suck without music.

Television (radio, et al.) is not inherently bad; it's how it's used.

Race may be just a social construct, but still matters in the United States (and I imagine, in other parts of the world).

Italian is beautiful to listen to, even though I don't speak or understand it.

Smart is sexy.

Most people who say "let's move on" are NOT the aggrieved party.

Oh, and one more:
Individuals should not hide behind a corporate shield when wrongdoing occurs; e.g., someone from the Peanut Corporation of America should face manslaughter charges, at least.
ROG

February Ramblin'

So much going on, and so little time:

COMICS
AdAge has a 3-minute daily video. The topic on February 20: Could Kindle put the KABOOM on Comic Books? (February 26 discusses the Tropicana packaging debacle.)
But not all is bad in comic book land. Marvel, bucking economic trends, actually set a revenue record for 2008.

Comic book blogger Mark Evanier linked to a CBS tribute, which I found oddly moving. I think it's because when I grew up in Binghamton, NY, there was only one VHF station, WNBF, Channel 12, so it was the Andy Griffiths and Lucille Balls I'd be watching the most.

OBAMA, POLITICS
Too much snark: Even Gov. Bobby Jindal, whom I suppose I should note was the first Indian-American to give the Republican response to a president's speech, began with an encomium to the first black president. (Wasn't Bobby great in "Slumdog Millionaire"?). As though I needed more proof that this woman (blonde, initials AC) is an idiot.

But this was a weird story: Poll Results: Obama, Jesus and Martin Luther King Top List of America’s “Heroes”. "When The Harris Poll asked a crosssection of adult Americans to say whom they admire enough to call their heroes, President Barack Obama was mentioned most often, followed by Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King. Others in the top ten, in descending order, were Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa. These heroes were named spontaneously. Those surveyed were not shown or read a list of people to choose from. The Harris Poll was conducted online among a sample of 2,634 U.S. adults (aged 18 and over) by Harris Interactive between January 12 and 19, 2009." I can't explain why I find this a bit disturbing.

Another story I find puzzling is Will trade: One black Democrat for one Mormon Republican. "Congress appears to be on the verge of granting D.C. actual voting representation in the House. The Senate is expected to pass legislation Thursday or Friday that would expand the House to 437 members, adding one seat for the District and one seat for Utah, where officials say the 2000 Census would have yielded an extra seat if overseas Mormon missionaries had been counted." Problematic for a couple reasons: 1) two more members of Congress (plus staffs)? Actually, there is a delegaste from DC, so it'd be really one more, but still. 2) I find myserlf in the strict constructionist camp, but I think fair representation for DC, long overdue, will require a Constitutional amendment.

I find that performers on the left who spout political opinions are often more criticize than those on the right, such as Chuck Norris and Ted Nugent, in my experience.

MARIJUANA
Comparing public support for legalizing marijuana to the approval ratings for Rush Limbaugh and various Republican Party leaders, the conservatives lose.
So does this mean we should start legalizing and taxing pot, as some are trying to do in L.A.?

RACE
That chimp cartoon debacle probably would have bothered me more if it hadn't been in the New York Post. It is just what I expect from the New York Post. What does unsettle me is not the chimp reference per se as much as the DEAD chimp reference.

Eric Holder: America ‘a Nation of Cowards’ on Racial Matters. Arguably true. But will saying that initiate useful discussion? I have my doubts.

BLAME

Time magazine did a story about 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis, which is well and good; they all seem to have taken advice from Ayn Rand - selfishness over altruism. But Joe Queenan in the February 14 Wall Street Journal wonders about the national obsession "over the missteps of public figures like Alex Rodriguez" and Michael Phelps with "the American people [working] themselves into such a sustained, unmediated level of fury at once-revered public figures."

"What they did is certainly wrong, but it isn't in any way unprecedented, or for that matter, unexpected. It's not off the charts...No public misdeed is too insignificant to earn our limitless fascination. Actor Joaquin Phoenix caused a stir this week following his appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman." His principal offenses: chewing gum and maintaining a generally unresponsive demeanor throughout what proved to be a very painful, unproductive interview... And thus ensued a heated debate about whether Mr. Phoenix was acting, on drugs or just spaced out. Meanwhile, in a nearby solar system, the stock market dropped another 400 points..."

"In light of the fact that we are facing one of the worst economic environments since the Great Depression, and are still in the throes of a global war against faceless, stateless terrorists, Michael Phelps can probably be forgiven for thinking that he could get away with taking a hit off that bong. And Jessica Simpson can probably be forgiven for scarfing down a few Twinkies."

"What accounts for the shock...? For one, we the public think that we know these people because we see them all the time on TV. Because of this, they root us in the here and now in a way run-of-the-mill white-collar villains do not. They have violated an old-fashioned code of morality that we can all understand in a way we cannot understand a $50 billion Ponzi scheme or the fact that Iceland has put out a 'Closed for Business' sign."

"From the therapeutic perspective, this is vastly superior to ranting about the latest depredations of Wall Street. No matter how much we froth and foam, none of us can lay a glove on imperious figures like John Thain or the haughty fat cats who run the auto industry or the inept regulators who let Mr. Madoff run wild in the first place. These folks all look the same, they all talk the same and the man in the street would have trouble picking any of them out of a police lineup. We don't really know them and we never will."

"It's the human scale of their malfeasance that makes them such inviting targets." (Mentioned in the headline, though not the article, Octomom.) "Ronald Reagan proved a long time ago that while it was impossible to get the public all riled up because the federal government was throwing away billions of dollars on this or that program, you could get them to blow their stacks by recounting a dubious anecdote about some conscienceless welfare queen on the south side of Chicago who was jobbing the public out of a few grand. This was partly because it was possible to put a human face on the welfare cheater, even if the story was vastly exaggerated, whereas the federal bureaucracy would forever remain vague and amorphous. But it was also because a few thousand bucks here and there was a number the average person could wrap his head around. Unlike, say, $700 billion."

ROG

The Lydster, Part 59: Miss Independence

My great joy recently has been the fact that Lydia wants to dress herself lately. She's had the means before but not the inclination, leaving it up to Daddy to put her clothes on. She HAS, for some time, picked out her clothing, and I must say that she generally does a pretty good job coordinating her outfit, a skill she must have learned from her mother, not me. In fact, the only times I've ever vetoed her selection is if it is going to be too warm or, more recently, not warm enough.

I'm also pleased that she hads deigned to pick the top pair of underwear in her drawer rather than rumaging around to find underpants that match her outer outfit. After all, people are not going to SEE her undergarments, are they?

This is not to say that she doesn't need help with some things. When her clothes are washed inside out and remain that way when they go to the drawer, she needs assistance. And some buttons are still tricky.

But for the most part, it's "Daddy, go away! I can dress myself!" And that's fine with me; actually gives me a chance to check my e-0mail in the morning.
***
She has had a tough week, though. On Monday, she fell on the ice in front of our own house. The snow had melted, and it tends to gravitate to the sidewalk. Then it got cold and the water turned to black ice. She didn't cry, but she was sore.

Then last night, she did cry after falling off the stool she uses to brush her teeth. Coincidentally, I had to use ice to tend to her almost-immediately visible bruise.

Careful, Lydia.

ROG

F is for Fire

As I was growing up, I spent a great deal of time at my grandma's house, as she lived just a half dozen blocks from my house in Binghamton, NY and as close to my elementary school as my own house, so I'd often have lunch there. She had a coal stove and one my jobs was to to go down to the basement and shovel up a couple pails of coal to keep the fires burning.

After my grandmother moved south, and I stayed in her house in the winter of 1975, I realized how inept I was at keeping the fires going on my own. Obviously, I was doing something wrong, and the flames went out. So it's February, it's bitterly cold, I have a mountain of covers on and I'm using a space heater. A quilt comes off the bed and catches fire. Fortunately something woke me up, perhaps the acrid smell, but possibly some psychic connection to my mother who SWEARS she woke up in Charlotte, NC at that very time to warn me; I don't dismiss it out of hand.

When I was about nine, there was a massive fire on my grandma's one-block street, Maple Street. An apartment complex called the Rogers Block, four wooden structures as I recall, all caught fire and were utterly destroyed. I don't believe anyone was hurt, but naturally, many lives were disrupted. It took a while for the area to be razed, and for months, I'd walk by from across the street and smell that very distinct post-fire odor.

Every year, at Midwinter's, there's a bonfire where one can throw pieces of paper representing things to get rid of from the previous year, although one year, we threw in the chair of one of our founding members of the tribe, who had died the year before. Indeed, the fire that represents me on this blog comes from a photo of a Midwinter's wax magick burst.

Totally coincidentally, this week, my daughter had me read a book called A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams, which is about a family who lost everything in a fire, got some stuff from their neighbors, but who were saving up for a nice plush chair to put into the new apartment. It's a Caldecott winner, and I'd recommend it.

My sister lives in southern California, not in a traditionally fire-prone area, yet a couple years ago, she could see the flames in her neighborhood. She was fortunately spared, but many were not. The photo above I believe she took.

I recall that there was this young woman on JEOPARDY! in the college tournament a few years back who had experienced a fire and was pleased that she was able to start over; Alex Trebek looked at her as though she were crazy, but at some level, I understood her point.

The dichotomy about fire fascinates me: useful tool, destructive force. Even theologically, that comes up, the notion of hellfire

vs. the idea of being "on fire for the Lord". Today is Ash Wednesday and it is with the remnants of fire with which some Christians will be marked.

Anyway, here's one of my favorite fire songs, by the OHIO PLAYERS:


ROG

Fat Tuesday

Today is Mardi Gras and that, of course, reminds me of New Orleans and the whole "should Nawlins survive?" conversation.

Specifically, I was thinking about a recent podcast called The KunstlerCast, "a weekly audio program about the tragic comedy of suburban sprawl," featuring James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere and The Long Emergency, among others. It was the distinguished Alan David Doane, who said such kind things about me recently, who turned me on to Kunstler.

In episode #52, Duncan Crary, the host/producer of the Kunstlercast, was wondering, and this is a broad paraphrase: Isn't New Orleans culturally cool enough to try to save? And I think there's a part of me that shares that viewpoint. Kunstler, for his part, indicated that the city may survive in a smaller form, although, with global warming, who knows?

I suppose the argument that it's under sea level, so it is foolish to save it would resonate more with me if people weren't also rebuilding in fire zones in California, flood zones further up the Mississippi and other places that have been destroyed more than once. A friend got hit by two Florida hurricanes in one year a few seasons back. I'm still convinced that some earthquake is going to carry half of California into the ocean.

But let's fret about that another time:
Mardi Gras 1941 and 1954 and 2006, just after Katrina.
Take Me to the Mardi Gras
jamming with the Meters
ROG

the Trilogy Meter

Since I'm still in the movie mode, here is a film trilogy thing from Dan Meth, via SamuraiFrog and Jaquandor:

Star Wars
The original Star Wars is one of my favorite films. Empire Strikes Back is nearly up there. Return of the Jedi is a bit disappointing, mostly because the Ewoks irritated me; Tribbles, but not as cute. As for the prequels, not only did I bhate Jar Jar Binks, but, far worse, I was bored by all of the political yak for good chunks of the movie.; so, I never saw the rest of that trilogy.

Indiana Jones
Raiders of the Lost Ark I loved. Temple of Doom, for whatever reason, never grabbed me the same way, and I thought it was gratutiously gross to boot; it practically created the PG-13 rating. The Last Crusade I liked almost as much as the first film, because of the humor and the great Harrison Ford-Sean Connery riffs, but also because of that whole theological angle of walking out into nothingness bit. adventure movie. Never saw the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The Matrix
I saw the first movie on commercial TV; I was unimpressed, and never saw the others. Probably didn't give it a fair shake. So never saw the others.


Star Trek
I've seldom been as bored with a movie as I was with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I don't know if it was the pacing or what, but these characters, who I liked a lot, were making me restless in my seat. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek film I've seen, and it was probably helped in the minds of the fans by its improvement over its predecessor. The problem with Star Trek III is that even though big stuff happens, it feels transitional, like the middle part of a trilogy; toss out the first, largely unrelated movie, it really is. As for the others, I saw Star Trek IV with my mother; she was quite confused not having seen III, though she enjoyed it well enough. I liked it considerably more, for which I credit my San Francisco obsession. Star Trek V was awful, just awful. I've not seen a Star Trek movie since, though I would.

Superman
The original's iconic, yet I've never seen the sequels, except pieces of III on TV.

Jurassic Park
saw the first one well enough, but never cared to see the sequels.

X-Men
Never saw the first movie. My wife and I were in a hotel in Maryland on New Years' Eve, coming back to Albany from North Carolina when I flipped on the TV and saw most of X2. It wasn't bad, but seemed terribly busy. My wife, who is not a comic book collector, was totally confused.

Spider-Man
I liked the first film quite a bit, though it felt flat occasionally. The second film, though, I loved; possibly my favorite superhero movie, though Iron Man was pretty nifty. Haven't seen the third yet.

The Lord of the Rings
It's just not my genre. I tried, and failed, to read the books. I saw the first movie, thought it was fine, but never saw the latter two parts. Yeah, I know: sacrilege.

Mad Max
Seems that I'd catch one of these on TV, but never knew at the time which one it was. Probably should actually watch.

Jaws
This came out at a time tin my life that I just wasn't going to see movies that might be gory. I have never seen Jaws, let alone its sequels. I will, someday, see the original, at least.

Back to the Future
I was very fond of the original. The second movie just felt both dark and like the middle part of a trilogy and doesn't stand on its own. I musty admit that the third movie, with the okld West theme, I thought was a hoot, and I'd end up watching big chunks of it when it used to show up on TNT every other day.

Die Hard
Another movie series where I'd catch it on TV but didn't know which episode it was. Looked like fun.

Blade
Never saw.

Planet of the Apes
I managed to see all five Apes movies in one day. NOT recommended. The original Planet of the Apes is a great film; I totally bought into it. Beneath was a lesser effort, but I actually enjoyed Escape. Conquest was stupid and Battle was an unrelenting bore.

The Godfather
This was one of the films (along with Catch-22 and A Clockwork Orange) that got me to swear off gory movies from 1973-1980. No doubt, the original was one of the finest films ever made. But I wasn't going to see II or III.

Rocky
Rocky, which I saw with my mother, is a great film; I think it got slapped down because it won the Oscar against showier fare. I rather liked Rocky II, which comes close to equaling the first one. But III to V, awful to more awful. Never saw Rocky Balboa.

The Terminator
Yet another series I've only seen on commercial TV, and caught by flicking stations. Seemed that I would like at least the first two films, based on what I've seen.

Rambo
Never saw. Never really wanted to see.

Batman
Batman, the first one with Michael Keaton, I liked well enough, though sometimes it felt as though Jack (Nicholson) was doing Jack. Batman Begins, though I know I saw it, for some reason didn't stick to the brain; I do recall that it seemed a bit campy, and I never got back into watching Batman movies - though I WOULD have seen Batman Begins (2005) had I been going to the movies. As for Dark Knight...wait until tomorrow.

Alien
The first film was excellent. But didn't need to see the sequels.

The Mr. Frog and Jaquandor suggested other trilogies:

Lethal Weapon, Karate Kid
Other one I saw only on TV and couldn't tell you which episodes I actually saw. Know I saw the end of KK1, and at least parts of three different LWs.

Omen, Scream
Didn't see at all.

ROG

VIDEO REVIEW: The Visitor

When The Visitor was released in April 2008, I made a mental note to go see it. It was, after all, director "Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut The Station Agent." And I loved The Station Agent. As it turned out, I never did see it in theaters. But recently, I cajoled my friend The Hoffinator to put it in her Netflix queue and then let me see it before it got returned. (I have my own Netflix account, but I had The Dark Knight 12 days unwatched.) I watched it Thursday morning at 5 a.m.

Richard Jenkins, best known for being, if I was told correctly, the first to die in the HBO TV show Six Feet Under, plays Walter, a widower without much going on. A professor at a Connecticut college who's allegedly writing a book, presenting papers for which his contribution is minimal and teaching his one class by rote.

As I thought back on the movie, there's a Paul Simon lyric which seemed to encapsulate Walter's persona:
I've just been fakin' it,
I'm not really makin' it.
This feeling of fakin' it--
I still haven't shaken it.

It is while he's in New York City to present a paper that he visits his seldom-used apartment, only to find that is already occupied. This turns out to be transformative in Walter's life. Frankly, I don't want to tell too much more except that the djembe, an African drum, plays a role. In fact, after I watched the movie, I saw the trailer, and I felt that it gave away too much of the plot elements.

Later, I watched the deleted scenes and totally agree with their excisions. Another extra: info on the djembe.

I still haven't seen Frozen River, The Reader, The Wrestler or Benjamin Button, among others. But of the 2008 films I DID see so far, The Visitor was my favorite.

ROG

OSCAR Questions

Oscar night has been for me a must-watch for decades. This year, I'm actually in better shape seeing movies than I was last year at this time.

The obvious questions about which I'd love for you to opine:
Who will win?
Who do you WANT to win?
* indicates films I've actually seen

BEST ACTOR:
*Richard Jenkins-THE VISITOR
*Frank Langella-FROST/NIXON
*Sean Penn-MILK
Brad Pitt-THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Mickey Rourke-THE WRESTLER
Will win: Rourke. Oscar loves the comeback. Langella, though, would not be a shock.
Want to win: Jenkins, who nobody knows until they see him. "Oh, THAT guy."

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
*Josh Brolin-MILK
Robert Downey Jr.-TROPIC THUNDER
*Philip Seymour Hoffman-DOUBT
*Heath Ledger-THE DARK KNIGHT
Michael Shannon-REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
Will win: Ledger. The fact that DK was not picked for best picture practically assures it.
Want to win: Downey, because he had a good year with Iron Man, which I saw and enjoyed. But I'm not begrudging the late Ledger.

BEST ACTRESS:
Anne Hathaway-RACHEL GETTING MARRIED
Angelina Jolie-CHANGELING
Melissa Leo-FROZEN RIVER
*Meryl Streep-DOUBT
Kate Winslet-THE READER
Will win: I can make the case for Hathaway, who's expanded from the Princess Diaries/Devil Wears Prada mode; yeah, she did in Brokeback Mountain, too, but didn't get the recognition. Or for Streep, who's won twice, but not in a quarter century. Guess I'll pick Winslet, because she's never won, though oft nominated, and she had a good year with Revolutionary Road and this. (Although, when I went to see Slumdog, my wife was asking about Revolutionary Road and the couple in front of us told us it was three hours of whining, a complaint I'd heard before.)
Want to win: Leo, who was on one of my favorite TV shows, Homicide, and who lives in upstate New York. Yes, I can be parochial.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
*Amy Adams- DOUBT
*Penélope Cruz-VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
*Viola Davis-DOUBT
Taraji P. Henson-THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Marisa Tomei-THE WRESTLER
Will win: Henson. The movie has the most nominations and it needs a win. Also, Oscar wants to honor a black or foreign performer (England and Australia evidently are not foreign enough) - could be Cruz, but Davis' part was too short (Judi Densch in Shakespeare in Love notwithstanding). Finally, Oscar always wants to pluck someone out of obscurity, and if you look at supporting actress winners over the years, it's littered with "Who's she?"
Want to win: Cruz, who lit up the screen.

Best Animated Feature
BOLT
KUNG FU PANDA
*WALL-E
Oh, please. I'm just annoyed that something like Waltzing with Bashir wasn't also nominated to give the most deserving Wall-E some semblance of a challenge.

Best Director
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
*FROST/NIXON
*MILK
THE READER
*SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Will win: Slumdog Millionaire
"Oh, Danny Boyle,
The Oscar trophy's call-all-lin'"
Want to win: Gus van Sant's Milk, though Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon would be OK, too.
I'm SO relieved the directing and best picture nominees lined up so I don't have to hear about the best picture nominee sans director, "What, did it direct itself?" again.

BEST PICTURE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
*FROST/NIXON
*MILK
THE READER
*SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Will win: It's SLUMDOG-mania!
Want to win: Frost/Nixon, though Milk wouldn't displease me.

Adapted Screenplay:
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
*DOUBT
*FROST/NIXON
THE READER
*SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE
Will win: Slumdog Millionaire. I had a faint inkling for an upset, but it has passed.
Want to win: Frost/Nixon

Original Screenplay:
FROZEN RIVER
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
IN BRUGES
*MILK
*WALL-E
Will win: Milk. The only best picture nominee on the list, which will get shut out of other major categories.
Want to win: Frozen River, which my wife DID see, but I didn't, when I got sick on the back end of a botched separated movie date.

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Slumdog Millionaire

In keeping with my Washington's Birthday tradition, I went with my wife to see a movie. I chose Slumdog Millionaire to watch with her because I knew in advance that it would more...intense than she might have thought. As I was discussing on Twitter this week, it was rated R for a reason.

How on earth does a poor young man fare so well on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"? He must be cheating! But how? The police use "extraordinary" means to find out, only to discover that there's an explanation for it all, based on an extremely difficult childhood.

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said: "Slumdog Millionaire is nothing if not an enjoyably far-fetched piece of rags-to-riches wish fulfillment. It's like the Bollywood version of a Capra fable sprayed with colorful drops of dark-side-of-the-Third-World squalor." Well, maybe. I know the producers didn't bill it as such, but as a friend of mine put it, "it took a long time for this 'feel good' movie to feel good."

I think part of the problem was that it took three actors each to play the three main characters and I didn't always buy the transition from one to the next. One either buys into the sheer level of coincidence or one does not. I guess I never fully engaged enough to buy in. So the "happy ending" seemed less joyous than it should have been; I didn't feel the payoff. Whether this is a function of the low-key acting styles, especially of Dev Patel, the last lead male, or what, I'm not sure.

This is not that I did not enjoy elements of it. The outhouse scene was memorable. Having had to go to the bathroom while taping a television quiz show, albeit in the United States, I was intrigued by another particular scene. Frankly, I was a bit of a sucker for that original run of Millionaire hosted by Regis Philbin, so I enjoyed the game section on that level. The smelling of a $100 bill will stay with me. The stuff at the Taj Mahal, though, I swear I've seen before in some movie or TV show.

My friend David savaged the movie, noting that it was not even the best film made in India last year. He may very well be right, but for the Hollywood community, it's irrelevant. Hollywood is not savvy to Bollywood cinema.

Ultimately, when I see a movie, I'm ready and willing to suspend my belief that it's just cimnema and surrender to it; just didn't happen for me. I didn't hate the film, and I'm not unhappy that I saw it, but I can't imagine wanting to see it again.
***
Remembering Gene Siskel by Roger Ebert. Recommended highly.

ROG

MOVIE REVIEW: Frost/Nixon

Because Richard Nixon was the first President for whom I could have voted for - I didn't - he has long held a special role in my life and my heart. In the day, it was nothing but anger and revulsion; since then, a more nuanced view. At the time, I thought he was destined to be one of the United States' worst Presidents; in hindsight, merely one that was fatally flawed.

I saw the Oliver Stone-directed movie Nixon (1995), starring Anthony Hopkins and Joan Allen, when it came out, with its warts and all. I enjoyed it well enough, but its quirky narrative style sometimes got in the way.

So last weekend, the wife and I did one of those "split date" things, with me going to the movies on Saturday and her on Sunday to see the more "conventional" filmmaker Ron Howard's take on an event that took place after the Nixon Presidency, but which was necessarily all about it, Frost/Nixon.

I've found that a great number of people no longer remember David Frost, the "British satirist, writer, journalist and television presenter" who interviewed Nixon in 1977. There's no current comparison who fully encapsulates it, but it'd be like Jay Leno or Larry King doing a hard-hitting interview of George W. Bush.

Most people who disliked Nixon wanted the interviews to be the mea culpa that Nixon never gave after the resignation, but felt that Frost was a lightweight who was was not up to the task. So it was that each participant had something to prove. Frost/Nixon turns out to be an intriguing film, not just the one-on-one, but the whole backstory leading up to the main event, including the need to secure the $600,000 for the interview, the slams of "checkbook journalism" and the desire to get the interview right.

Frost/Nixon is another play that was made into a movie. But unlike Doubt, it didn't feel as stagy. One would not expect a historically-based movie about two guys talking to be so tense and yet so revealing of both men. Frank Langella, who is rightly nominated for best actor, "does" Nixon without being a caricature. In fact, the most revealing scene has Langella saying nothing. But look at his eyes! They spoke volumes about what was going on in Nixon's mind. But the movie would collapse if Michael Sheen as Frost was not up to the task. Sheen, who played Tony Blair in 2006's The Queen, ends up being as worthy an acting partner for Langella as Frost was an adversary for Nixon.

Some critics inevitably kvetched about historic inaccuracies here and there, which almost always happens. I wondered if the last scene - which is REALLY funny - actually happened; it matters not. I was entertaned and I learned a few things.

Recommended.

Frost, who has interviewed the last seven U.S. Presidents and six British Prime Ministers (excluding, so far, the current ones) now works for Al Jazeera English.

See part of the Frost/Nixon interviews here (97 minutes) and here (10 minutes).


ROG

E is for Eggs

When I was growing up, the first things I learned to cook were eggs, specifically omelets. I'd get a bowl and break one egg for each person plus "one for the pan"; pour in some milk and then go to the spice rack to season. We used butter or margarine in a heavy black skillet - no stick-free pans back then - over our gas stove; to this day, I dislike electric stoves, for it's harder to regulate the temperature.

Part of the art of cooking the omelet was to figure out which spices worked and in what amounts, and I was given pretty much free reign. There was a lot of trial and error in the process. Cinnamon, e.g., just didn't work for me. Generally, I ended up using pepper, garlic salt, onion flakes, a touch of dried mustard. Also a little Worcestershire sauce and occasionally, a touch of Tabasco. Sometimes, grated cheese, usually sharp cheddar. Eventually, I learned the wonders of sauteed mushrooms and onions.

As a single adult, when I had to bring food to parties, for years it was deviled eggs. First thing, one needed to know how to crack open the egg so that the albumen wasn't carried off on the shell. While running cold water on the egg, crack both ends of the egg, flatter end first. Last time I tried this, it worked almost every time. Then figuring out the right amount of mayo (never that Miracle Whip stuff), mustard and pepper. Always paprika for color.

When my wife was pregnant with our daughter, we were using something called the Bradley method, which involved exercise, diet and a way of empowering parents before the event. One tenet in the diet for the prospective mom: "Every day of the week you and your baby should have two eggs (hard boiled, in french toast, or added to other foods)." Initially my wife found this incredibly onerous, because she glommed onto the two eggs part without noting the parenthetical aside. I'm not saying it was the eggs, but she had a near-perfect delivery of Lydia.

I'll eat eggs almost any way they're cooked. They are complementary with so many foods: pancakes and waffles, sausage and bacon, toast and English muffins, cottage cheese. Yes, I'm the one who likes the cottage cheese. Though raw eggs? No, thank you.

But I am otherwise a fan of the Incredible Edible Egg

Eggs and cholesterol.

ROG