YFT - Bacon Bros. at Daryl's House

Probably all of us think Kevin Bacon is a very good actor.  But it turns out he is one heck of a musician and singer.  He and his brother Michael perform together as the Bacon Brothers.  In February of 2009 they were guests of Daryl Hall at Daryl's house.  The number I like the best is "Go My Way" with Kevin just doing vocals, although he plays guitar on other numbers.  It's a great tune and you can listen to it right here.  Again, there is a tinge of sadness in this number because of the presence of the great T. Bone Wolk, who died exactly a year later.  His guitar work on "Go My Way", especially the solo, is something I never get tired listening to.  Alas, T. Bone died while all the assholes continue to live on.

Yosemite Big Horn Sheep

If you want a "feel good" true story to add to your holiday cheer, you can't go wrong with this wonderful video from the Yosemite Conservancy.  Now if we can just figure out a way to stop the slaughter of elephants. rhinos, and lions I will be even happier.  

YFT - Daryl & Smokey

More snooping around YouTube at Daryl's house revealed a session with the great Smokey Robinson.  All of the tracks on YouTube are great, but one that I really love is "I've Been Good To You." What I love along with the song is the banter and obvious joy flowing between Smokey and Daryl. I am also knocked out by Daryl's singing on this tune.  Dig especially what he lays down at about 2:08 in.  Check it out right here.  By the way, Daryl was born in 1946, which means he is now 69 years old.  How come I couldn't look like that when I turned 69?!

There is a tinge of sadness in this track, that being the prominent presence of T-Bone Wolk.  He died of a heart attack at age 58 in February of 2010.  He had worked with Daryl for 30 years. What a terrible loss for us all, but seeing him on the "Good To You" track (and many others on Daryl's House) lets him live on in our memories.  A belated R.I.P. from me.

A sweet 90 seconds...

A lot can be conveyed in 90 seconds as is evident in this moving spec ad for Johnnie Walker.

YFT - Bill Evans - My Foolish Heart

I discovered jazz when I was a junior in high school.  My favorite album at that time was "Waltz For Debby" by Bill Evans (1961).  Over the years I wore out my first copy of the album and of course had to buy a new one.  It remains to this day among my top favorite jazz albums.  Later after CD's came on the scene I purchased the awesome and beautiful boxed 12 disc set of the complete Riverside recordings.  Of course the title tune of the "Waltz For Debby" album is a terrific composition of which I never tire, but for me the heart-breaker track is "My Foolish Heart."  Bill played it so movingly and yet so simply.  I know every note of that piece as it plays on the album. But for a change of pace, I found a rare video live performance which is just as beautiful as the original album version.  Enjoy it right here

YFT - Mayer Hawthorne

A great YFT (YouTube From Tom) for today.  Mayer Hawthorne from Daryl's House, with Booker T. on organ.  I had never heard of Mayer Hawthorne until visiting at Daryl's House (where I'm spending lots of time these days.)  The dude can sing up a storm but there is a lot more to him -- check it out.
Anyway, this track is "I Can't Go For That," one of my favorite Hall & Oates tunes.  The track is an awesome live performance by all involved, with kudos to the guy on tenor.  Very hot stuff.  Play it right here.

BTW, have you, like me, ever wondered what the "that" is that Hall & Oates can't go for?  Wish I could ask Daryl.

YouTube From Tom

Starting a new feature:  "YouTube From Tom" (YFT).  You're gonna get links to music that I am digging as often I can get it together to make the post. I'll try to provide tunes with accompanying motion video, but in some cases you will get only the music with a static screen (like today).  And, if possible I'll provide links to my current ear worms.  Today's ear worm came from deep, deep in my subconscious.  Check it out.  Geeze I can't find my knees!

P.S.  Check out the comments on YouTube.  They're great.

Early computers were huge but not that smart...

Check out this cool post regarding early computers.  The following paragraph from the end of the post puts it all in perspective:

It’s fascinating to look back and see how things were in the early days of computing, and it truly illuminates how far we have come. Today we have more computing power in our pocket than what would fit in entire buildings in the past. Our most modest smartphones widely exceed the performance and storage capacity of these early behemoths.

All of it truly blows my mind.

Bio pic fun

I just ran across a really cool web page showing 68 examples of actors playing famous people in bio pics.  All of them are good but many of them approach an uncanny realism in the portrayal of the famous person.  Enjoy.

Kirk Douglas as Vincent Van Gogh

Chauncey Devega on growing fascism

Chauncey Devega has written a really good article on the burgeoning fascism fueled by Donald Trump and his ilk.  Here is an excellent expert from the article published in Salon. 

American society is structured around maintaining, promoting, and protecting unearned advantages, life opportunities, and resources for white people. As viewed through the lens of the color line, almost every aspect of American life is a “safe space” for white people. This “safe space” for whiteness is reinforced by many factors, including, but not limited to, the mass media, residential and housing segregation, racially homogeneous interpersonal social networks, as well as a racist “criminal justice” system. And when this protective bubble of white privilege is pierced, or in any way challenged, many white folks respond in extremely negative, hostile, and immature ways.

I highly recommend checking out the entire article. You can read it right here 

Daryl's house is a very, very, very fine house...

One of the joys of my life is discovery of new things, at least "new" to me.  Upon many such discoveries I find myself saying, how could I have gone so long without knowing about this.  But then I say, "I'm grateful to have lived long enough to discover it." Right up there at the top of my list of recent discoveries is "Live From Daryl's House," which I stumbled across surfing Palladia network on TV.  The show comes from the house of Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates fame.  For each show Daryl invites a guest (group or individual) to jam with him and other musicians Daryl recruits for a given show.  I simply love the show and I especially dig Daryl Hall, who it turns out is one hell of a musician and human being.  I cannot watch this show without feeling so happy and blessed.  If you don't have access to the Palladia network, you are not out of luck.  Fortunately most of the shows are available on YouTube.

To start you out here is a number from recent episode 71.  The guest is Kandace Springs, who I had never heard of before, and whom I now have a hopeless crush on.

Another thing I really like about the show is that Daryl does not hog the spotlight.  In fact he often just plays guitar or keyboards and does not sing.  A GREAT example of this is when Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top was the guest. Check out "La Grange," especially the "video over" near the end when Billy tells a great story about BB King.

Yet another feature I dig is that often the guest will perform a Hall & Oates tune.  One of the best of this genre was four years ago when Jimmy Wayne was the guest, singing "Sara Smile."

Finally,  You can check out a YouTube search for Daryl's House 2015 right here.

Ain't this cool!!

A shout-out for John Carroll Lynch

Successful "character actors" are a fascinating breed.  They are constantly popping up in one role or another, and nearly always believable in the part.  One of the very best popped up on the latest episode of The Walking Dead (episode 4), rendering a terrific performance as the character "Eastman." Who is he?  John Carroll Lynch.  The dude has been in tons of movies and TV shows.  Here, take a look and you'll recognize him immediately.

The episode was primarily a two-character story that included the back-story of the TWD  character "Morgan."  Lynch was splendid throughout.  It was one of the best acting performances I've seen in a TV show.  I realize many folks are not into TWD, but for those who are, you owe it to yourself to check out Lynch's performance.

To learn more about him and his extensive filmography check out his IMDB page.

I Am The Walrus

A couple of days ago I was doing my weekly vacuum of the the house while streaming Pandora with a good set of Sony headphones.  I keep the volume pretty loud to drown out the vacuum.  My Pandora station  for such work is seeded with U2, Van Halen, Audioslave, Snow Patrol, and Cream.  This produces a varied ass-kicking mix from Pandora.  Anyway, as I was working away, what should come on but "I Am The Walrus," original Beatles version.  This was a delightful surprise especially because the quality was top notch.  I hadn't heard it for quite a long time and I must say that it pretty much blew me away.  It's a weird but totally arresting song that literally creates its own genre.  The word is that Lennon wrote the entire song himself but agreed to list it as co-written with Paul.  To my ear, Lennon as the sole composer rings true.

Finding the tune on the Internet is difficult because of the tight control of original Beatles songs.  I heard that I-Tunes has the catalog but I'm not sure and I don't use that service at all.  Still, I was able to find the original video, which I had never seen before.  The quality is not that great and the video is ultra-weird but the music still comes through strong.  Also, I love seeing John in his element.  I'm sure you are chomping at the bit to see it, which you can do right here.

Enjoy and lemme know what you thought.

Fargo -- season 2

I was a huge fan of season 1 of the Fargo on the FX network.  So I was really looking forward to season 2, which has now aired 3 episodes.  I had the 3 episodes recorded on my DVR and yesterday I binge-watched them all.  What a freaking treat!!  It is at least as great as season 1, and I'm pretty sure it's going to surpass that benchmark of greatness.  Wonderful cast, yummy convoluted plot (your jaw will be dropping), and a truck-full of dark hilarity.  Man, it doesn't get much better.  I can hardly wait for the next episode to air.  (By the way, you don't need to have seen season 1 -- season 2 stands on its own.)

I tried to find a review that gives you the proper flavor of the series without a lot of spoilers:  here is a good one. (Obviously you will need to click on the "Continue reading" tab.)

If you have "on demand" capability I highly recommend a binge-watch on FX to catch up and then you can ride it to the end.  

Dali was cool, but also pretty weird

Salvador Dali was one of a kind, as evidenced by these wacky photos.  Would have loved to hang out with him for a while.

Fall overload of good TV

It happens every late summer and early fall:  My DVR fills up with the good shows that are coming back along with new shows whose positive reviews have prompted me to record them. Yesterday, I watched the season finale of "Mr. Robot," which is one of the best shows I've seen lately.  The plot is dense but rewarding, and I had no trouble following the delicious twists and turns.  The production value is top notch, especially for a USA Network offering.  But the best thing about it is the cast.  Rami Malek is mesmerizing as the protagonist, Elliot.  Christian Slater turns in his best acting in a long while as Mr. Robot.  The little known Martin Wallstrom (with an umlaut over the "o") as a demented whacko is so good he made me squirm.  The rest of the cast are all right on the money -- I can't think of even one miscast role.  By all means check out Mr. Robot the first chance you get.

But getting back to my DVR; finishing and deleting the Mr. Robot recordings hardly made a dent in my backlog. Complicating my catching up are all the the great sports telecasts like college and pro football along with the baseball play offs.  So, with the DVR about 75%  full, here is how it stands:
[Number of yet unwatched episodes in parentheses, with my comments]

The Bastard Executioner (4) -- loved Sons of Anarchy, giving this Kurt Sutter creation a whirl.
Blindspot (1) -- Eileen and I are liking this new show
Fargo (1) -- Last season was wonderful.  Can hardly wait to get to this one
Minority Report (3) -- Liked the first episode.
Quantico (1) -- Enjoying this so far
Homeland (2) -- Huge fan; Claire Danes can do no wrong; gonna binge watch to catch up
Walking Dead (1) -- You are either a fan or not; I'm the former.
The Good Wife (2) -- Eileen and I have been with Alicia from day one
Blood & Oil (2) -- Started watching -- still on probation
The Last Kingdom (1) -- BBC production getting very good reviews; haven't started yet
Blue Bloods (1) -- Eileen's show; I don't watch it
How To Get Away With Murder (3) -- Haven't started  to watch this season yet
Scandal (3) -- Haven't started  to watch this season yet
The Blacklist (1) -- Haven't started  to watch this season yet
Your The Worst (2) -- Watched some of this hilarious season; still the best comedy on TV
Ray Donovan (1) -- Great show; saving this season finale for a special watch
Extant (6) -- Watched most of the season; show did not get renewed
No Reservations (1) -- Eileen's show; I don't watch it
Orphan Black (10) -- The whole season just waiting for a binge watch
Broadchurch (8) -- The entire season; I may never get to it

I know it looks like an obscene amount of TV but it will eventually get viewed during the inevitable doldrums when I will be glad I have something decent to watch.

Oh no Bob, say it ain't so!

Every so often something happens that I never thought would happen in my lifetime.  To date the election of a black president (2 times no less!) leads the list.  But I have to say the very existence of, this commercial is right up near the top of my list.

Super Heroes indeed!

Most of the time these days the daily newspaper is pretty depressing.  Sometimes, however, a story like this one pops up that speaks of happiness and goodness and makes me smile for the rest of the day.

Yogi Berra, R.I.P.

I am very saddened to learn that Yogi Berra has passed away at age 90.  Perhaps the best way for me to honor his memory is to recall my Yogi Berra shout out. of October 16, 2014.

Heroes examined

I just ran across this interesting and thoughtful take examining ten different classifications of a hero.  It's about 12 minutes long, but the time flies by.  Enjoy.

Slaking my tennis Jones & Hawk-Eye

I have been watching way, way too much tennis for the last week -- the US Open of course.  I don't follow tennis except to watch the big tournaments and then I get addicted.  Seeing these top-notch athletes putting it all on the line, with just themselves to perform is pretty compelling.  Sure, there is a lot of pressure on a professional golfer with only himself to rely on, but he is not running over three miles, often for over 4 hours.  Even if you are not a big tennis fan, you gotta admire the players.

Anyway, in the course of watching all this tennis I realized that I had no idea how the technology resolving disputed line calls worked.  Sure,  it is very impressive within seconds to see exactly where the ball landed (and I do mean exactly,) but how in the hell do they do it.  It's not smoke and mirrors, but close.  It is the "Hawk-Eye system, which is explained in this Wikipedia article.  An excerpt follows:

All Hawk-Eye systems are based on the principles of triangulation using the visual images and timing data provided by a number of high-speed video cameras located at different locations and angles around the area of play.[5] For tennis there are ten cameras. The system rapidly processes the video feeds by a high-speed camera and ball tracker. A data store contains a predefined model of the playing area and includes data on the rules of the game.
In each frame sent from each camera, the system identifies the group of pixels which corresponds to the image of the ball. It then calculates for each frame the 3D position of the ball by comparing its position on at least two of the physically separate cameras at the same instant in time. A succession of frames builds up a record of the path along which the ball has travelled. It also "predicts" the future flight path of the ball and where it will interact with any of the playing area features already programmed into the database. The system can also interpret these interactions to decide infringements of the rules of the game.[5]
The system generates a graphic image of the ball path and playing area, which means that information can be provided to judges, television viewers or coaching staff in near real-time.

Amazing.  And here is a short YouTube video that will add to your understanding.

Ah, the 20's

I can't explain it but there is something about the twenties that fascinates me.  There are hundreds of examples of why I feel such a tug at my core, but here is one I ran across today.  No wonder I was, and still am, a sucker for Downton Abbey.  In the 60's (which I actually lived through as a young man) the garb was massively different than in the 20's, but in most ways the social vibe was very much the same. So, these photos, especially those shot by Steichen, move me in a predictable way.

And just for good measure, here is a photo that is simply titled "1920s" that sums it all up.

What's your favorite era?

Link to vacation album...

If you are so inclined you can see the Flickr album I created showing shots from our Lake Cavanaugh vacation by clicking right here.  You will see my daughter Wenona, her husband TJ and the grand kids Nizhoni and Aya.  Not to mention Eileen and Spenser the border terrier.

 

He's baaaack!

Hey all.  Just got back Sunday at about noon.  We rented a large house right on the beach of Lake Cavanaugh, a small deep-water lake located east of Seattle.  We had the place for seven nights. My daughter and her family joined us for four nights and five days.  The grand kids loved it and spent hours in the water.  I took many pictures and I am planning of working on the best ones to make them even better using Light Room software.  So it may be a few days before you get to see those photos. However, I will share a couple of "as shot" photos to give you an idea of just how cool this place was.

Here is a shot of the lake and our dock taken from the back deck.  Don't forget to click on the image to enlarge it.

And here is a shot of the house taken from the dock.

Not bad, eh?

Taking off tomorrow

I've been busy getting ready for a 12-day vacation, which starts tomorrow.  We have rented a house right on the beach at Lake Cavanaugh in Washington. My daughter and her family will be sharing the experience.  Lots of fun for the grand kids and a welcome 7 days of lolling around and doing nothing in particular.  (It takes us 3 days of driving to get up there.)

I'm not taking my laptop so this blog will be silent until on or after the 16th.  Check back then for lots of pictures!!

In case you are interested, you can read about the rental house right here.   Scroll up to the top to begin.

Quanah Parker - a cool dude

I have been meaning to write a post about Quanah Parker, the last great Comanche chief.  I learned much about him when I read "Empire of the Summer Moon:"  I am still wondering why no one has made a movie about his life.  Early in his life he was literally scalping settlers and buffalo hunters and years later he was a respected pillar of the community and rode in a parade with Teddy Roosevelt.

Read about him here.

Today I ran across his epitaph.  All my poet friends should eat their hearts out.

Resting Here Until Day Breaks
And Shadows Fall and Darkness
Disappears is Quanah Parker
Last Chief of the Comanche
Born – 1852
Died Feb. 23, 1911

The epitaph of Quanah Parker

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glint in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you wake in the morning hush.
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
Ai!

Einstein on the beach (for real!!)

From Wkipedia:

Einstein on the Beach is an opera in four acts (framed and connected by five "knee plays" or intermezzos), composed by Philip Glass and directed by theatrical producer Robert Wilson.^[1] The opera eschews traditional narrative in favor of a formalist approach based on structured spaces laid out by Wilson in a series of storyboards.^[2] The music was written "in the spring, summer and fall of 1975."^[3] Glass recounts the collaborative process: "I put [Wilson’s notebook of sketches] on the piano and composed each section like a portrait of the drawing before me. The score was begun in the spring of 1975 and completed by the following November, and those drawings were before me all the time." ^[4] The premiere took place on July 25, 1976, at the Avignon Festival in France. The opera contains writings by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Lucinda Childs.^[5] It is Glass's first and longest opera score, taking approximately five hours in full performance without intermission; given the length, the audience is permitted to enter and leave as desired.^[5]

Having established that, what more can I offer?  Well then,

3 pretty cool things

Sorry I've been off the grid for a while.  Just got back from the Tahoe/Donner and haven't thought about some kind of deep and meaningful post.  So here are three things that I think are pretty cool.

1.  Latest ear worm (see ear worm section on my blog site):  "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol.  (This dang thing is hard to get out of my head).  Check it out for yourself, right here.

2.  A new HBO show that is totally funny yet deep in many ways:  "Catastrophe," which you can read about right here.  I'm really loving this show.

3.  An amazing home video that will blow your mind (just imagine yourself in that boat -- sends shivers up my spine.)

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Last night I watched an amazing documentary on Netflix streaming video: "What Happened, Miss Simone?"  I have always been a huge fan of Nina Simone, having been introduced to her by my good friend Michael Lally when I was about 21 or so.  He had the original 1959 album on the Bethlehem label, which featured Mood Indigo, He Needs Me, Little Girl Blue, My Baby Just Cares For Me, Plain Gold Ring, and of course I Loves You Porgy.  It was a hard album to find in those days but I finally tracked one down, bought it, and nearly wore it out in the ensuing years.  I also saw her live at the Berkeley Community Theater, probably somewhere around 1967 or 1968.

I thought I knew a fair amount about her, but after watching last night's film I realized there was a whole lot I didn't know.  I'm not going to spoil it for you but suffice it to say that the film has an almost perfect balance of Nina performing over the years and exposition by way of interviews of her and others, and many excerpts from her private diaries. There has been some criticism based on allowing her abusive ex-husband to give his side when she is now dead, but there is plenty from her side in her interviews and especially in her diaries.  Husband shrinks to a pathetic guy in the face of all that, so don''t worry about Nina not "giving her side of the story."

  Take my word, if you are a Nina fan you will die for this film, and if you are new to her you owe it to yourself to see it.  If you don't have Netflix, find a friend who does and bum a watch.  If you don't have a Netflix buddy, join Netflix.  It's only about ten bucks a month and you will be getting a huge bang out of those bucks.

The President's amazing eulogy in Charleston

I watched the live broadcast of the President's eulogy given in Charleston last Friday.  My humble words can never convey or explain how moving and amazing the whole thing was.  I was welling up with tears throughout.  I am so proud of him.  Since then, I have watched it twice more, marveling over it even more.  Thus, I feel it is my duty to make it available to those of you who have not seen it yet.  Check it out by clicking right here.

My grandfather was an evangelical preacher and my mother was a child evangelist for a time and I went to church every Sunday until about 5th grade.  Thus, I am well familiar with services featuring "call and response" between preacher and congregation. The call and response between the President and the mourners was 100% real, heartfelt, and believable.  He was home and in his element.  He could have played it safe worrying about what the rest of America was going to think, but he threw caution to the winds.  Again, it was amazing, right down to "Amazing Grace."  If you have not seen it, you really, really should.

Health care saved!

I'm heaving a big sigh of relief upon learning of the Supreme Court's upholding Obama Care by a 6-3 vote.  Oh, and to Justice Scalia: Neener, neener, neener!! (Boy is he ever pissed off).

I'm diggin' the Pope

I'm not a big fan of organized religions, but I have to admit that Pope Francis is a wise and uncompromising human being, as evidenced by this article by E. J. Dionne in today's WaPo.

Pandora leads to discovery of old treasures

One of the bonus benefits of music streaming services is that you hear cool things that you never heard before, or in some cases that you have heard before yet never "heard" before.  This is particularly the case with some "old" tracks that you dismissed in those old years for one reason or another.  In my case the dismissal was usually based solely on the artist's being too main-stream or in the wrong genre for my taste or my friends say it's crap, etc.

So, yesterday I was listening to Pandora on the "U2" channel I had created when a really cool tune came on, which I did not recognize, but which pretty much blew me away (headphones on and turned way up).  I rushed back to my computer to see who the group was and the name of the track.  What?? Duran Duran!  "Come Undone" recorded in 1993.  Just goes to show....

I could try to explain, but it would be simpler if I just let you hear it yourself.  Even if it turns out not to be your cup of tea, just listen to the structure, musicianship, and production quality and I think you will have to admit that it is really a terrific pop-rock tune that deserves some kudos, even if they are delayed by 23 years.  So without further ado, check it out right here.

Especially interesting vintage photos

A few posts ago I steered you all toward a great vintage photo site that provides new offerings daily.  If you are at all interested in seeing what some famous artists and writers of the late eighteen hundreds looked like, by all means check out these fantastic photos from the aforementioned vintage photo site.  All are amazing, but striking my fancy were Liszt, Sara Bernhardt, Baudelaire, Rodin, Dumas, Monet, and Manet.

Ronnie Gilbert R.I.P.

Just read of the passing of Ronnie Gilbert.  She was one of the great ladies of the folk music world in the 40's, 50's and 60's, mostly singing as one of the Weavers.  The Weavers were comprised of Ronnie, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Pete Seeger.  You can read about them right here.  Dig especially their clashes with Joe McCarthy and HUAC -- good people, the Weavers.

There are quite a few videos of the Weavers in performance but I found one that is really cool.  It is described by its contributor as follows:

Published on Sep 13, 2014My father was a chairman at "Nordens Smalfilmsförbund" in the 70's. (Nordic Narrow Film Association). After his death in 2005, we digged into all the 16 mm and 8 mm film reel of film he left behind. Some were with music like this one. I'm uploading this to YouTube thinking that it might just put a smile on someones face. Maybe someone out there remember this. And if that someone is just one person... well... then this upload has fullfilled it's purpose.Enjoy! :)

Here is his upload.  Enjoy the Weavers.


.

Honest Trailers

"Honest Trailers" is a fun website that I drop in on from time to time.  Some of their takes are just okay, but many of this are genuinely hilarious.  I never got into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, although I did make the effort sit through one of them (can't remember which one), and have seen snatches of one or another while channel surfing.  That said,  I really enjoyed this "Honest Trailer"  Enjoy some of the other Honest Trailers while you're on the web site.

Daily vintage offerings

I could look at vintage photos and media all day.  Thus I am always happy to find a new site, such as this one.  The trick is to go to the end of any of the day's entries where you will see several choices of "You might also like..." and then pick one and after viewing that one, do the same thing. Using this method I found this bunch of rare photos of the Battle of the Bulge.  I'm going to start making a daily check of this site.

Hanging out in Carmel

We are here in a rental cottage in Carmel, celebrating Eileen's birthday. We drove down on Tuesday and we are heading home tomorrow afternoon.  The rental is pet friendly so Spenser is here with us.  We took a long drive on Wednesday down Highway One through Big Sur and further south to Hearst Castle.  As always, the scenery was stunning.

The dog and I took a hike up the hill this morning, which afforded a view of Carmel Valley over the roof tops of the swanky homes comprising this neighborhood.  Here are a couple of photos of the view we enjoyed.

One "Secretary" = Fifty Shades of Grey

I have not seen Fifty Shades of Grey and probably never will.  I have, however, read a few reviews of the film and the consensus is not favorable.  Oddly, two or three reviewers noted that the erotic scenes were surprisingly tame and thus a disappointment when compared to the film "Secretary," which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader.

Eileen and I watched "Secretary" last night and really enjoyed it.  It was made 13 years ago, so Spader and Gyllenhaal look much younger than they do today.  They are both terrific in their respective roles, but Maggie's performance is on some sort of higher plain.  What she is able to do with her facial expressions is awesome, perhaps even better than Claire Danes in "Homeland."  I highly recommend "Secretary" for its unabashed kinky-ness, but even more for the script and the performances that bring the script to life.

Tina Fey's last Letterman

Check out this video.  Sure it's a bit contrived, but it works here thanks to Tina just being Tina.

Freak snow storm

We were up at our Tahoe/Donner place last weekend.  We drove up on Thursday morning and came back on Sunday afternoon.  The surprise event was a freak snow storm on Friday night lasting into Saturday morning.  We got about four inches, but it quickly melted off by the end of Saturday.  Just chalk this up as yet another example of the weather not behaving normally.  Of course it is impossible to even consider that it was a result of global climate change.  Sure!  What ever the case, it was beautiful while it lasted, as evidenced by the following pictures taken in front of our house, including our plow service actually plowing the driveways.

Partisan animus exceeds racial hostility

Dana Milbank's article in today's WaPo is truly interesting; it brings to light something that I was feeling in my bones, but was not able to prove.  Here are a couple of paragraphs from the article that summarize the point under discussion: 

It has long been agreed that race is the deepest divide in American society. But that is no longer true, say Shanto Iyengar and Sean Westwood, the academics who led the study. Using a variety of social science methods (for example, having study participants review résumés of people that make both their race and party affiliation clear), they document that “the level of partisan animus in the American public exceeds racial hostility.”
Americans now discriminate more on the basis of party than on race, gender or any of the other divides we typically think of — and that discrimination extends beyond politics into personal relationships and non-political behaviors. Americans increasingly live in neighborhoods with like-minded partisans, marry fellow partisans and disapprove of their children marrying mates from the other party, and they are more likely to choose partners based on partisanship than physical or personality attributes.

The sad and depressing fact is that one of the authors of the study sees no end in sight.  

Another batch of motion GIFs

Check out these infinite motion GIFs.  All of them are pretty cool, but for some reason I seem to like the guy on the bench with his dog the most.  Also, some of them are very subtle, such as the girl in the blue dress twiddling her thumbs.  

Climate change deniers in retreat...

Check out this article from Dana Milbank in today's WaPo.  Perhaps there is still hope before we turn the corner of no return.  Climate change is for real, and it is scary!  Just ask that poor polar bear whose world is literally melting away.

Math Class Prank

I have run across one of the best April Fools pranks I've ever seen.  Check it out right here.  I love teachers who put in the proverbial extra mile.  Bravo for this guy.

Tim Cook is the man...

Check out this article by Tim Cook in today's WaPo -- speaking for Apple and many others, including me.

Spring has sprung...

Sorry I haven't posted for a while.  We were up at the Tahoe/Donner place over the weekend.  In the past mid-March always provided snow in our front yard.  But for the last two years there has been very little snow.  So here is what the front yard looked like last weekend.

Yep those are daffodils blooming about a month or so too soon.  But then of course there is no such thing as climate change or global warming.

Toles nails it again...

Is Obama Care a disaster?  With tongue firmly in cheek, Toles thinks so...

Beautiful words

Ran across something that I just had to share: beautiful words.  I like 'em all but I think "vellichor" is the coolest: "(n) the strange wistfulness of used bookshops."  Lest you think it's something made up or totally phony check this corroborating source.

Conservatives unmasked...

Been out of town the last few days.  Now that I'm back I wanted to give you something to chew on.  Start chewing right here.  Alternet is becoming one of my favorite political sites.

Frank keeps getting better

A couple of days ago I was emptying the dishwasher when kabam!!!, I started hearing Sinatra singing "The Summer Wind." Talk about a powerful ear worm.  Of course I immediately went to this blog and entered it as my current ear worm on my home page.  But all day yesterday and into this morning I kept hearing it, right down to the groovy Nelson Riddle arrangement.  Nothing else to do at that point than actually listen to the real thing, which I did right here.  Yep, it was just as great as always -- Frank at a time (for my money) that his chops were probably the best they ever were.  "Chops" encompasses the whole package including tone, timbre, confidence, and especially phrasing.  He just kills "The Summer Wind" in less than three minutes. Dang, as I get older Frank just keeps getting better and better.

Some stunning magic!

I am a big fan of magic and the magicians who ply the trade.  I am always intrigued with magic that incorporates modern technology, yet is performed in an intimate setting where the tricks are real practical magic as opposed to clever "CG" presentations.  Accordingly, I was totally blown away, yet charmed by this wonderful bit of magic.  Realize that this dude is doing all this with Ellen sitting right next to him, a proximate audience (love the selfie bit), and close, unforgiving camera work. I have no idea how he is pulling this stuff off.  Too cool.

More right wing shenanigans

"A knowledge of syphilis is not an instruction to get it" -- Lenny Bruce from a monologue about the South.

In that context read this article from today's WAPO.  Could we please just let these States secede!! And why is Colorado running with this Luddite crowd?  Weed is legal there now so please smoke a bowl and maybe it will restore your sanity.

Estuary

Gee, I just noticed that time has slipped by and I have not posted for over a week!  I did change my "current ear worm" a couple of times but that doesn't really qualify as a post.  So today I'm going to show you my estuary.  If you've been following this blog you have seen quite a few posts showing views of the San Francisco Bay, with bridges, boats, birds, and buildings on display.  These pictures were all taken after I walked a block from my house and then turned left.  But what happens if I turn right instead.  The answer is that I walk toward the Bay Farm Bridge which crosses an area where the Bay meets an estuary.  From that point there is a paved path that goes for about a mile, but the estuary goes on for quite a ways after that, toward the Oakland Airport.  So here are a couple of shots of the estuary that I took last Sunday.

 

That's the estuary on the left and the paved path on the right.  If you enlarge the photo by clicking on it you will be able to see the Oracle Arena where the Warriors NBA team calls home and just behind that you can see portions of the Oakland Coliseum where the Oakland Raiders play their home games.

 

Now this is a shot looking back toward the San Francisco Bay. You can clearly see the Bay Farm Bridge (it's a draw bridge) with the mouth of the estuary on the near side and the Bay on the far side.  

As I've said many times, I really love where I live and I'm grateful for it each and every day.

Mind boggling bat facts

I am a proud and long-time member of The Nature Conservancy.  It does wonderful work all around the world and has the reputation of a charity with a very high percentage of its revenue actually going to the work it does rather than to the people who run it.  Anyway, they publish a beautiful  bi-monthly magazine, which is always packed with interesting stories and facts.  Here is an amazing item that appears on page 19 of the February/March issue (my italics included for emphasis):

In October, the world's largest colony of bats got more protected space to roam at night. The Nature Conservancy, Bat Conservation International and the city of San Antonio paid $20 million for more the 1,500 acres adjacent to the Bracken Bat Cave, home to 15 million Mexican free-tailed bats.  The land, which had been slated for a 3,500 home subdivision, is directly in the flight path of the bats as they emerge from the cave each evening.  Bracken Cave's winged residents eat more than a quarter of a million pounds of insects each evening.  The Conservancy and  Bat Conservation International will own the property and incorporate it into nearby preserves.  

I'm still thinkin' those figures are misprints but they are not.  I'd hate to live in San Antonio if the bats all of a sudden disappeared.  I'd be contending with 250,000+ pounds of insects!

Bay and city photo

Well, it's Friday and it looks like we may actually get some rain today.  It's raining and the skies are gray, with a stiff wind adding to the reasons to stay inside and perhaps do some binge watching.  To cheer things up, here is a photo I took last Saturday (Jan. 31) while taking a walk along the San Francisco Bay, shot from Alameda looking west across the bay to the City, which is several miles away.  I sure do love living where I live.  (Be sure to click on the photo to enlarge to full effect.)

Some nice Obama moments

After six years of enduring relentless attacks and inexcusable sabotage against the President, I'll admit I was tired and worn.  It seemed like it was getting harder and harder to muster up joy and hope over him and his presidency.  Then today I ran across this slideshow [you'll need to scroll to the bottom of the page to "Most Iconic Photoes ..."] and I could not help but smile and feel pride, remembering that I had never expected to live long enough to see a black man elected as President.  Just think what our lives would be like if he would have had a Democratic Congress.

An inheritance tax is moral

I just finished reading a really interesting and informative article by Michael Tomasky, one of my favorite writer/thinkers.  The subject?  Is the inheritance tax moral or immoral?  Wealthy conservatives claim the latter while Tomasky proves that the former is true.  I recommend reading the whole thing, but if you don't have time at least consider the following excerpt:

The conservative position here is not only immoral. It’s un-American, and explicitly so. Our Founding Fathers, as a group, loved inheritance taxes. Loved them. And it stands to reason—they were founding a nation that would throw off the old weights and chains of Europe. Those weight and chains very much included laws of primogeniture and inheritance that resulted in all those layabout royals and their massive estates. America, they vowed, would not be like that. Social position would be earned, not inherited.And so no less a figure than TJ himself led the fight in the Virginia legislature in 1777 to abolish primogeniture laws. Jefferson even went so far as to wonder whether all rights of inheritance should be abolished and most property basically reshuffled every 50 years. We didn’t do that of course, but every revolutionary state government followed Virginia’s lead.So the conservative position is immoral and un-American. It’s also un-conservative. I say this because well, on matters economic, who is the conservatives’ great hero? Maybe Hayek. But he’s like the Lebron. The Jordan is still Adam Smith. And Adam Smith believed in taxing huge wealth. He wrote this: “A power to dispose of estates for ever is manifestly absurd. The earth and the fullness of it belongs to every generation, and the preceding one can have no right to bind it up from posterity. Such extension of property is quite unnatural. There is no point more difficult to account for than the right we conceive men to have to dispose of their goods after death.”

 Verrrrrrry interesting, no?

Andrew Sullivan - His blog will be missed

Today I learned that Andrew Sullivan will not be blogging any longer.  This after 15 years at the helm.  Andrew has always billed himself as a "true" conservative, which alone has put him at odds with the right wing greed-heads who try to pass themselves off as conservatives.  Of course Andrew being an out, and fiercely proud, gay man also set him apart.  But underneath all the convenient labels that get tossed around, Andrew is in a way a closet liberal.  Anyway, I will miss his blog.  You can read his farewell post right here. It's quite moving.

Rich Jerks

In today's SF Chronicle there is a front page article presenting a theory by which wealth is correlated to just how big of a jerk a person is likely to be.  A sentence from the article:  "Rich people are more likely to behave unethically even if they get very little benefit."  Why am I not surprised!  Anyway, it is a very interesting article and you can read it right here.

Toles nails it...

The sad truth about the President's state of the union speech.

Madeleine Peyroux makes me smile

I have always loved the tune "Smile," which was composed by Charlie Chaplin with Geoff Parsons and John Turner.  I hadn't heard it for a while, but a couple of days ago I heard a really sweet version of it sung by Madeleine Peyroux.  Yes, there is a high-quality version of it on YouTube, which you can listen to right here.

By my reckoning this should brighten up your day.  Nice, isn't it.

Some Lightroom magic

A while back I discussed  my work in scanning a photo album belonging to my great grandmother, Edith Fowler.  (See this post).  After scanning and annotating every photo in the album, I chose several for post-scan improvement using a wonderful program called Lightroom 5.  From time to time I will be posting "before and after" photos, showing the state of a photo as it comes from a camera or a scanner as compared to its  state after I apply various tools available in Lightroom 5.  For the inaugural presentation I give you a photo of Edith's son Ray, (my great uncle), as a school boy.  As you can see from the original scan, the photo was pasted a bit askew into the album.  The actual photo is very small and very old.  It is almost completely washed out except for Edith's blue ink annotation: "Ray home from school."  When I first saw the photo and later scanned it I did not believe there was much hope of "saving" it, even using Lightroom 5.  Well, much to my delight, I was able to produce a final print that vastly improves the original.  I'm still a bit amazed.  See what you think.

Before

After

Ear Worm musings

You may have noticed that about a month ago I added a new feature to this blog, which shows my current ear worm (lower right corner.)  Today it changed from Eminem's "Stan" (the chorus) to Dylan's "Tambourine Man."  Like any true ear worm it came upon me unbidden this morning whilst I was walking my dog. In particular the phrase "far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow" powerfully spun in a loop for a long time.  Putting that in context with the rest of the tune shows the derivation of its strong influence on the subconscious.  It appears in the final verse of the song.  These lyrics are the work of a genius, and as you read them and hear Dylan singing them in your head, I'd venture to say that "far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow" might well be the apex for you, as it its for me.

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow

Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me

In the jingle jangle morning, I'll come followin' you