Master and Commander

One of my favorite movies is “Master and Commander,” directed by PeterWier and starring Russell Crowe.  This movie is based on the seafaring novels by Patrick O’Brian – I believe he wrote 20 before he died, and I have read the first 9 of them.   I loved the books and when I learned that a movie was to be made adapting them, I was more than eager to see it.  Ever since I was a kid I have been fascinated with seafaring tales.  I read all the Howard Pease books, e.g. “The Tattooed Man” when I was in 4th grade.  Later, and continuing to today I have read many books about the seafaring explores like Magellan and Drake, as well as fictional “sea tales”  such as “Voyage” by Sterling Hayden the actor. Of course sea battles between sailing vessels have been at the top of my list.  I saw “Master and Commander” in a theater right after it came out and it just blew me away.  I then bought the DVD and have enjoyed it even more in subsequent viewings.

Anyway, yesterday I was  channel flipping and came across “Master and Commander” at about its half-way point.  Of course I was mesmerized and watched it until the end.  That partial viewing confirmed my belief that the film is underrated, even taking into consideration my obvious bias.  I could try to explain all the wonderful things about “Master and Commander,” but I’ll simply say that if you have not seen it, please check it out, and if you have seen it, give it re-watch and you won’t regret it.   It has it all:  adventure, humor, pathos, awesome battles, gorgeous cinematography, a stint on the Galapagos islands, and one of Russell Crowe’s best performances. 

Seeing it again yesterday made me realize that there are not a lot of movies that I will re-watch over and over, but “Master and Commander” is cetainly one of them.  Another one that always hooks me  if I’m channel flipping is “48 Hours” with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in one if his very early roles, which was directed by Walter Hill.  In fact, I think I’ll make my next post be a list of movies that I will pretty much always end up watching if I’m channel flipping.

I’ll close here with the last paragraph of Roger Ebert’s review of “Master and Commander:”

"Master and Commander" is grand and glorious, and touching in its attention to its characters. Like the work of David Lean, it achieves the epic without losing sight of the human, and to see it is to be reminded of the way great action movies can rouse and exhilarate us, can affirm life instead of simply dramatizing its destruction.

I’m still here…

Geez, I can’t believe it has been 10 days since my last post.  I have been a bit distracted celebrating my birthday, and other things that at the time seemed more important than drafting a post.  Anyway, as of Saturday I turned sixty-nine.  So I have one more year of sub-seventy existence.  I’m happy to have made it this far. 

I plan on doing some serious posting in the next few days, so take heart and check out the blog frequently.

~ Tom

Screamin’ Jay–still a gas!

The other day I was vacuuming the house wearing a set of headphones and listening to the Rhapsody channel “Essential 500” when this track came up.  I just had to share it with you.
If it doesn’t toggle your memory banks and put a smile on your face, you need to seek help.

Thumbs up for “House of Cards”

You may have read about Netflix airing its first series, “House of Cards.”  The interesting and unique twist is that there was no weekly airing of each episode.  Instead, they made the whole first season accessible from the “git go.”  True, shows like Downton Abbey came on Netflix and Amazon Prime all at once, but those shows did have a weekly season on some network before being released to streaming services like Netflix.

Anyway, the show is fabulous in my opinion.  It’s sort of like “West Wing” with a hard, cynical edge.  You can read a non-spoiler review here.  I have heard of people having a marathon and sitting through all 13 episodes in one session.  I’m not that bad, but the last two evenings I said I was only going to watch one episode and ended up watching two each night.  Last night it took a lot of will power not to stay up even later and watch more episodes.  As for now, I’m going to finish this post right now so I can watch episode #5.  The cast is great, writing sublime, and direction top notch – David Fincher directed the first two episodes.  Kevin Spacey is perfect. Lovin’ it. 

A great Sunday walk

I’ve said it before on this blog, but I am so grateful to be able to live where I live.  Our house is a block away from the San Francisco Bay and there many paths to walk, and sights to see.  Aside from the lure of the Bay, our development (Harbor Bay Isle) sports a large, beautiful lagoon system, with bike and pedestrian paths alongside.

On Sunday, we walked down the largest lagoon, which runs over a mile and a half from the Harbor Bay shopping center all the way the the San Francisco Bay near the ferry terminal.  We only went down about about 3/4 of a mile and then walked back, but it was certainly a beautiful walk.  (I have travelled the full distance as part of a  four-mile loop I sometimes jog around.)  Here are some pictures I took along the way.  Be sure to click to enlarge.

Near the start of the lagoon.

One of several curves.

Much further along the way.  Keep going and you will eventually come to the Bay.

One of many foot bridges across the lagoon.

Yep, I’m a luck guy.