Why in the attic?

One of my uncles asked me why I ran my speaker wire in the house's attic instead of under the molding along the floor.  In case you were also wondering, here is why:

The living room has no molding.   (Yes, I plan to eventually get rid of this old ugly green carpet and replace it with wood/laminate flooring.)

The speakers are mounted near the ceiling.  Notice: no sign of speaker wire.  (Yes, the hated red shag carpet will also eventually be replaced.)

By the way, I ran the microphone speaker balancing test last night. The home theater system sounds great.  Even when watching the movie, Date Night, which is not a movie to really test the home theater's abilities, the sound was rich.  I should have had this home theater setup a few nights ago.  Then maybe I could have understand half of what Jeff Bridges mumbled in the movie, Crazy Heart.

Alone in the Wilderness

I finally got around to watching the documentary that my uncles Curt and Larry, and friend Jeff, all recommended to watch.

"This documentary tells the story of Dick Proenneke who, in the late 1960s, built his own cabin in the wilderness at the base of the Aleutian Peninsula, in what is now Lake Clark National Park.

Using color footage he shot himself, Proenneke traces how he came to this remote area, selected a homestead site and built his log cabin completely by himself.

The documentary covers his first year in-country, showing his day-to-day activities and the passing of the seasons as he sought to scratch out a living alone in the wilderness."

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437806/

The documentary is about an hour long and apparently has been shown on PBS.   The documentary is very interesting.  This guy had an amazing talent.  He made wooden handles for his tools then built a cabin that allowed him to live through an Alaskan winter.

He was in his early 50s when he built the cabin and lived there until he was 83 years old.

Black Friday and movies

I didn't get up early for the Black Friday sales.  In fact I barely made the 11 am cutoff for a couple of the early "early bird" sales.  I had only one item in mind and that store had an all day sale so I made the Army/Navy Surplus store my last stop.

The one item... a pair of gaiters.  Here is a link to the company's web site with the gaiters I bought.  The ones I bought are all black as no other color choices were available at the store.  I hemmed and hawed at getting this style as the store had another style by the same company which was cheaper.  But I decided to get the fancier version as it seemed more durable.  I plan to use the gaiters when cross country skiing and snowshoeing this winter, though they also would come in handy if I end up bushwhacking through heavy brush like I did to the Heaven's Peak lookout.

Overall it seemed like less people were out and about, and they didn't seem as manic as in other years, but since I went to the stores later it was hard to compare the crowds to other years.

Oh, there was one other item I was interested in getting if it was still available.  That was a DVD copy of the movie, "Across the Universe".  I like the music by The Beatles and this movie is an imaginative story using a number of The Beatles' songs.  I bought the last copy Best Buy had.

I also picked up a copy of "The Dark Knight" and "The Princess Bride".  Ying and yang, male and female style of movies.

Other than getting some tools on sale at Ace Hardware, that was it for my Black Friday shopping.  I don't want or need much.

All that shopping must have worn me out as that evening after watching the movie, "Coraline", I quickly fell asleep.  And that was a few hours before I normally go to sleep.

King of Kong

I watched a 2007 documentary movie last week that was pretty good. It is called King of Kong.

While the documentary is about a competition to set a record high score on the arcade game, Donkey Kong, the documentary is about much more. It is really about a newcomer trying to break into a clique, and about believing in yourself and persevering when people and the odds are against you, and especially when you have failed before.

I am not much of an arcade player and never had an interest in Donkey Kong so I had my doubts about the movie, but I really got into the movie and became invested in the competition between Steve and Billy. I also learned playing Donkey Kong is a lot harder than it looks.

A review I found:

"In the early 1980s, legendary Billy Mitchell set a record on the video arcade game, Donkey Kong, that stood for almost 25 years. This documentary follows the assault on the record by Steve Wiebe, an earnest teacher from Washington who took up the game while unemployed. The top scores are monitored by a cadre of players and fans associated with Walter Day, an Iowan who runs Twin Galaxies, a score keeper of electronic games.

If it weren't for the sincerity of it all - or maybe because of it - King of Kong could be conceived of as a mockumentary. But there's no joking with these guys, which sometimes makes it a lot of fun to watch the competition between Billy Mitchell, with his sycophants and idiosyncrasies of his self-spun empire/network, and Steve Weebie, with his average suburban housewife and kids going somewhat begrudgingly along for the ride. It's a saga though not just about them, but about the world of gaming, of the mind-set that pervades everyone from lawyers to 'Roy Awesome' to little old ladies competing at Qubert, and the nature of competition itself. Not since Rocky has one seen a tale of the underdog and the king played out in odds that should seem somewhat silly.

But what's so amazing is how we are plunged into this world. It's immediately recognizable to anyone who has played one of the "old-school" arcade games like Donkey Kong or Pacman/Mrs. Pacman or even Pong. We see how the players play the games not haphazardly by luck but with game plans and strategies.

As far as triumph-of-the-human-spirit stories go, King of Kong is hilarious entertainment, sometimes for all the strangest (the referee Walter Day's would-be musical career) and silliest reasons (what's so special about the Guinness book of records, Steve's daughter asks)."

As Roy Awesome says... "Don't get chumpatized!"

Hot and Blue

Another hot day. 98 F, which is a new record high temperature. I sprayed a couple tanks of herbicide in the morning before the temperature got too hot and a breeze started. I finished spraying my north pasture and started on the middle pasture.

I also chatted with my neighbor Jim. I learned his grandson took third place with his steer at the local County fair. At the auction, where the local businesses bid high to show their support for the kids and FFA, he got $3 a pound for his steer. As the steer was 1200 plus pounds, he made out well. Much better than a rancher who'd get less than a dollar a pound for a steer of that weight.

Then I retreated inside for the afternoon where the house was still cool from the previous evening. I watched a movie, my first in a long time.

The library took my recommendation and bought a DVD of the movie, "Blue". "Blue" is the first movie of a trilogy by Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski. The trilogy is of Three Colors: Blue, White and Red. The trilogy is on France's national motto: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

The reason I recommended that the library get this movie is they already had "White", and "Red" was available on interlibrary loan. "Blue", the first movie in the trilogy, was missing. Once the library got the movie they called me.

Blue is the story of Julie who loses her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter in a car accident. The film's theme of liberty is manifested in Julie's attempt to start life anew free of personal commitments, belongings, grief, and love.

The movie is serious, but well made and a visual treat. I had seen it back when it came out in 1993. Fifteen years later parts of the movie seemed familiar, but not enough that I could predict what would happen. What was of interest to me was the scenes of everyday life on the streets of Paris. That felt familiar to me having traveled in Europe and Paris in the 1990s, and brought back memories.

I recommend this movie if you are serious about watching movies. I must warn you that since the movie's character Julie pushes people away from her, it can be hard to warm up to her. But the actress, Juliette Binoche, is so good and the movie good, that one goes along with her to see where she and movie will go.


In the evening, once the heat abated, I checked my pocket gopher traps then sprayed another tank of herbicide. The time I spent last year spraying in the middle pasture paid off as the weeds were less and I was able to covered a much large area on a single tank of herbicide this time. That's not to say I don't have my work cut out for me spraying the rest of the pasture.

At dusk I noticed a pickup along the road next to my hayfield. I got my binoculars and found they must have been checking out the two deer in my hayfield. One buck had a nice rack.

In the evening I rode five miles under the full moon. As I came back to my driveway I saw a shape in the darkness on the other side of the road. For some strange reason the first thought that came into my head was "What's a camel doing here?" I know... strange. The shape turned out to be a young couple standing next to one another. Right next to one another. Who were they? Where did they come from? What were they doing here? I said "Hi" as I rode by and they said "Hi" back. I guess I'll never know the answers to my questions. At least they weren't camels.

Picnic music: Bad Larrys

Tuesday night I attended another of the Picnic in the Park concerts. This time I was very late to the concert. I had a movie checked out from the library; it was due back Tuesday; and I needed to watch it.

The movie was a French film, "The Double Life of Veronique". I don't know... this is supposed to be a good movie, and it was supposed to be dreamy, but I found it dull. The film style was realistic but the story and people in it were not. I fell asleep part way into it. Being cryptic also didn't help matters any as I wasn't in the mood to see a cryptic film.

And my VCR's remote control quit working which slowed things down for me.

The concert started at 7 pm and it was 7:10 pm when I finished watching the movie. I did get the movie returned to the library before 8 pm, which is when the library closes. Therefore I didn't get to the concert until almost 8 pm, just in time for two songs before intermission.

Performing at the concert were "The Bad Larrys", a county and folk group. I've seen them listed as everything from a duo to a trio. Tonight they were a quartet as one member's son played a drum or occasionally a wash board.


They were really good. A very tight playing group. The first full song I heard from them was Credence Clearwater Revival's "Susie Q". Only The Bad Larrys performed it acoustically on guitar, bass fiddle, and mandolin. Unique, and an excellent interpretation of a favorite song of mine.

Here is a youtube video of the duo version of the group singing the Simon and Garfunkel song, "The Boxer": click here.

The group played Johnny Cash's song, "Ring of Fire". Here is a youtube video of the duo singing the song another time: click here.

During intermission I wandered around. I didn't see Gary in his usual spot so I figured he was on his planned cruise. My typical tree to lean against was 'taken' so I found another tree with a good view of the gazebo and the band.

Because last week's rain storm interrupted that concert and their raffle prizes weren't given away, they gave them away tonight. I noticed the prize of 6 lbs of dog food is back again.

Sometime after intermission was over, and the band started again, a bench opened up and I moved over to sit on it. Just before I got to the bench the two young women moved from the right side to the left side so I had to sit on the right side. After I sat down I realized why the women moved: the soundman was standing and blocking the view of one of the players.

There was room on the bench between me and the two women and a short time later a woman riding a bicycle came and asked if she could sit between us. Sure. She was petite and thin. She was about my age and attractive enough, but with her short hair, not as attractive to me. (Besides I think I spotted a ring on her left hand). Just like only a few women can pull off wearing a mini-skirt and looking sexy, so too can only a few women get away with short hair and still look sexy. Short hair is practical, and practical is not often sexy.

Upon sitting down she immediately started to bounce her legs to the music's rhythm. Initially this was annoying as she was bouncing the bench, but she had good rhythm, and as I am rhythmically challenged, I began to notice the rhythm in the music I heretofore missed.

Speaking of women with rhythm, later a woman got up to dance with her teenage daughter. Usually the only dancers are pre-teen kids with a few exceptions for adults practicing a few steps off to the side. Initially I thought the mom drug the kid up to dance with her as the mom had fantastic natural rhythm and the daughter looked awkward. But in later songs I seen it was the daughter dragging her mom up to dance.

Even though they were mother and daughter, apparently rhythm is not in the genes as it didn't appear to be passed on in this case. If the daughter had half the talent her mother had she would have danced better than she did. I give her credit for trying. Perhaps she was inspired by her mother's ability and wants to learn, practice, and improve.

The mother looked to be perfect and I was entranced by her. I wasn't that close to them but she appeared to be around 40. She had long blond hair that went down a third of her back. She wore a slightly faded light blue jean shirt and light blue jean pants. Her clothes were loose - not tight - but still showed off that she had a good figure: not thin, not heavy. Ideal. She wore a woman's straw hat that curved just right in front and back. The hat was perfect for her look. Her clothes for the most part were common, but on her they looked to be her own style. She was barefoot in the green grass.

And her rhythm! She didn't have to move much but everything was connected and flowed from her shoulders to her feet. She seemed to move effortlessly. She didn't just dance to the music, it appeared the music flowed through her.

Some males are just males, and some males are men. The same is with females. Only a few are women. Like Colleen, this person is a woman. This woman had it all together: the look, the moves, everything. And surprisingly I didn't see any rings on her left hand. What's up with that?

No, I didn't go over and talk with her. She probably just wanted a relaxing evening out with her daughter.

Another adult dancing with a few women was a tall, lean, older looking guy. He had medium short gray hair with a red bandanna tied around his head. He wore a print shirt and had leather motorcycle chaps over his pants. What's up with that kind of look? He kind of looked odd.

I first noticed him dancing with a young blond girl young enough to be his daughter. They danced slower and tentative at first but by the end of the song were moving and spinning quite well. Then I saw him dance the next song with a woman his age. He appeared to be trying to teach her the dance's steps and it wasn't going well. I don't think they lasted the song. Then a song or two later he was again dancing with a late teen/early 20s woman. She was dancing better than the older woman, but not as good as the first woman. If a man can dance, one can get the women. The problem is I, and most men, can't dance. How can one dance if they don't notice the rhythm?

Also at the concert I saw Colleen's friend, Pam. You know the one I offended last Summer when I asked for her opinion on how the rich people moving to the Valley are changing it. After I sat on the bench, and later after some people left, she moved to sit in the row in front of me. She didn't notice me.

It wasn't until the concert was over and people were leaving that she noticed me. I had just unlocked my bicycle when she walked by carrying her lawn chair. She did that double look when you see someone you recognize and hadn't seen in a while. As I was looking at her she quickly looked away and kept walking. She didn't have to worry, I wasn't going to ask her opinion on anything. After the nerve I inadvertently struck last time, I know better than to do that with her.

I Can Get It For You Wholesale

Another Susan Hayward movie. She can make hard women seem sexy. It must be her hair, which is a character of its own.

I Can Get It For You WholeSale

A ruthless fashion designer steps on everyone in her way in order to reach the top of her profession. Eventually she is forced to choose between her ambition and the man she loves.

Susan Hayward's portrayal of the ambitious Harriet is what makes this movie worth seeing. George Sanders is perfect as Noble, the man who recognizes Harriet's talents and wants her to come work for him. Dan Dailey is also excellent as the salesman with a lot of flair. Sam Jaffe is Cooper, the decent man who gambles all his savings in the business he knows well.

When you see these movie posters, and read the title, do you think the movie is about the fashion industry? I know what I want wholesale!

For all its over-the-top nature, I had fun watching the movie. The actors go for all their worth playing even the hokiest dialog straight. This being a movie from 1951 you knew where the movie was going; that is, for all her cold hearted ruthless ambition Hayward's character was heading for a big fall. What made it watchable was her co-stars were likable. Even the fashion mogul she becomes involved with, in the end is an ok guy as he gives her good advice without judging her.

I didn't take the time to write down some of the dialog, but there were some good lines. The last lines in the movie are spoken by Sam Cooper, Harriet's (Susan Hayward) and Teddy 's (Dan Dailey) business partner.

Teddy, wait. Listen to me. Maybe 7th Avenue is a jungle. But that doesn't mean you have to live like a wild animal in it. Harriet found that out, so she came back.

And remember Teddy, it isn't easy to walk back in after you walked out. It's easier to stay out.

And Harriet, it isn't easy to say... 'please come back'.

Besides, falling in love is always a mess. What can you expect from.. two strangers?

Let me, at least, introduce you. Teddy, this is Harriet. Harriet, this is Teddy.

[the movie ends with Teddy and Harriet tentatively stepping towards one another, then holding each other and kissing.] Aaahhh. So nice.

My Foolish Heart

Recently I watched the movie, "My Foolish Heart" starring Susan Hayward. I liked it. The movie is a 1949 WWII "woman's movie" romantic melodrama. In others words, if the movie would be made today: a chick flick. The difference being is that movies in the 1940s have a plot and dialog and were not just about 'meeting cute' and showing skin.

The plot:

After a long absence, Mary Jane visits her schoolfriend Eloise, and Eloise's daughter Ramona. Eloise is unhappily married to Lew Wengler. Eloise falls asleep and remembers her time with her true love, Walt Dreiser, at the beginning of the Second World War. She recalls the events that lead up to her split with Mary Jane, and how Lew married Eloise rather than Mary Jane.

My other surprise was how much I liked Susan Hayward. I had seen her in a few other movies such as "With a Song in My Heart" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro". Susan is very beautiful.

• IMDB description of My Foolish Heart

• Wikepedia description of My Foolish Heart

The following photo from the movie shows Susan Hayward's character and her true love, Walt Dresier, played by Dana Andrews. I believe this is when Walt is defending Eloise's dress to Miriam. Look at the joy and admiration in Hayward's eyes. This is acting.

As I have mentioned in the past, part of the reason I like older movies is the dialog is better than in today's movies. Here is some of the dialog that I jotted down from the movie and added to the imdb web site info about the movie.

Susan Hayward = Eloise Winters
Dana Andrews = Walt Dreiser, her love interest
Mary Jane = Eloise's best friend

Eloise: I was a good girl once.

The following is a in-joke between Walt and Eloise and each says it to the other throughout the movie when something sad has, or is about to, happen:

Poor Uncle Wiggily.


Mary Jane: [referring to Miriam Ball, a rival in the women's college dorm, when phone call after phone call is for her] She must advertise in locker rooms.

Eloise: Just two puffs on a cigarette and I'll be happy.

Eloise: [referring to Walt's apartment the first time she sees it] This room has a split personality. This half is so clean and ... this half is so ... it must have taken years to accumulate this mess.

Eloise's date: [talking about another woman] Well, I don't think I could hit a woman.
Eloise: Well, try it sometimes. It's a wonderful feeling.

Eloise: [to Lewis, her date] You dance with Mary Jane. I'm going to smoke a Parliament.

The following line is when Eloise was upset about her brown and white dress and a comment Miriam Ball made about it. Eloise is from Boise, Idaho and when she bought the dress she was assured it was what the women in New York were wearing. Miriam had disparaged the dress.

Eloise: [to Walt] Does it look awfully "Boisey" to you?


After his seduction attempt fails, Walt tells Eloise:


Walt: May I kiss you the way I would a rich and loathsome aunt?


Eloise's dad: These skyscrapers are magnificent. I'll take these over mountains in Idaho any day.

Eloise's dad: Well, I'm from the West. He'll expect me to be gruff.

Eloise: Can't I stay dad?
Eloise's dad: This will be man to man talk. You never know what language will be used.

Eloise's parents are in town as Eloise was kicked out of college because she was caught after hours in her dormitory hallway with Walt. Her mother is in hysterics and spends most of her time in the bathroom wailing.


Eloise's dad: [to Walt] I'm afraid son she's an outraged mother.

Eloise's dad: [to Walt] Don't worry about Mrs. Winters. We have a large house with 5 bathrooms.


Mary Jane: Oh, it's such a good idea having men in this world, isn't it?

Eloise: If I said what I felt, I'd start to cry. And I won't cry in a cocktail lounge.

Another in-joke is the word 'aristocratic'. Walt first uses it in a line when trying to seduce young and naive Eloise. She initially believes it and after asking him more about it realizes it is just a seduction line. Later whenever Walt wants to pay her a complement, but in a light way, he uses 'aristocratic' to describe one of her features: ear, nose, eyes.

Walt: Know what darling?
Eloise: What?
Walt: You have such aristocratic eyes, even if they are filled with tears.

Walt: I do love you El. I'll tell you twice so you don't have to ask me again. I love you.

[last line]
Mary Jane: That's all right. After all - I could have been the girl in the brown and white dress. Anyone could have.

Susan Hayward and Rawhide

Here is quote about Susan Hayward I found and liked. What a great quote. I have the same feeling about Susan Hayward. Ahh... to find a woman who makes me feel like this.

"A man could pound dreams into iron with a woman like that."

Lately I've been watching a number of movies with Susan Hayward in them and I am enchanted by her. She is beautiful and her hair has a life all its own.

Her movie characters are spunky, determined, bold and passionate. As someone else has described Hayward's acting style, 'she gives it her typical spitfire all from the get-go, her performance liberally punctuated with her signature eye-squints, chin-jerks and tit-thrusts.' A pleasure to watch.

I enjoyed the movie "Rawhide". Both because I like Westerns and also because of Susan Hayward's performance and look.

Not only did the six-shooters have more than six bullets, Hayward's tight white blouse never got dirty, even when crawling on the floor in an attempt to escape from her cell.

Jack Elam was a revelation in the movie. I knew him as a humorous character actor, but in "Rawhide" he was young, thin, and menacing. Quite a scary character, unlike any acting I had seen from him before.


Back to Susan Hayward, here are a few quotes from her:

"When you're dead, you're dead. No one is going to remember me when I'm dead. Oh maybe a few friends will remember me affectionately. Being remembered isn't the most important thing anyhow. It's what you do when you are here that's important."

"You aim at all the things you have been told that stardom means -- the rich life, the applause, the parties cluttered with celebrities. Then you find that you have it all. And it is nothing, really nothing. It is like a drug that lasts just a few hours, a sleeping pill. When it wears off, you have to live without its help."

"I never thought of myself as a movie star. I'm just a working girl. A working girl who worked her way to the top -- and never fell off."

Diplomatic Courier

Recently I saw a 1952 movie that exceeded my expectations: Diplomatic Courier.

In the Cold War, Mike Kells (Tyrone Power) is a courier, who has the mission to meet his friend Sam Carew in a train in Europe and bring some documents back to Washington. However, Sam is killed on the train. Mike finds a hint in his pocket, indicating he should go to Trieste, Italy to find Janine (Hildegard Knef), Sam's last contact before he died. Meanwhile, Joan Ross (Patricia Neal), an American widow that Mike had met earlier, shows a great interest in Mike. Mike does not know, but he is being used by the American government as a bait to find the Communist spies.

Don't you just love the poster? I never saw the poster till now. The poster looks like it could be a cover to some pulp novel and not a movie. The movie is not as near salacious as the poster would lead you to believe though there is an undercurrent of sexual tension.

I hadn't expected a whole lot from the movie but I had fun watching it. I enjoyed the banter between Patricia Neal and Tyrone Power. He is caught up in a spy and murder mystery and she is a glamorous woman he met earlier and who is putting the moves on him. Ya know... as a guy, I enjoyed watching these scenes.


Here is some dialog to give you an idea of the movie. As this is a 1952 movie, the sexual chemistry is inferred and not explicit, and therefore more fun.

[Mike is at a nightclub in Trieste, Italy searching for Janine when he unexpectedly finds Joan, a woman he met days earlier on an airline flight.]

Joan: When I started this crazy tour the last thing I was looking for was a man. Why I should pick on you, I don’t know. After I know you better, I may not like you.

But I kept thinking about you and started looking for you. I phoned all over and Tony Bennis from the Paris embassy found out for me that you has come here. Michael, it was exactly 11:45 a few days ago when you left me. What time is it now? Check both watches.

Mike: Well, it’s exactly 11:37.

Joan: Do we resume? Heaven bless 11:37. ...I don’t.

Mike: Joan, I’d like nothing better in the world, but right now I’m sort of... I.. I.. I’m.. tied..

Joan: All right, I’m gonna lay my cards on the table. Michael, tell me the truth. Are you with someone?

Mike: [showing a photo of an attractive woman standing next to a bicycle] No. No, I’m chasing her. My dream girl.

Joan: Can’t be helped. Can’t be helped, can it? I apologize to you Michael. I’m truly sorry.

Mike: No, no, no. I’m only kidding about her. I’m only doing this for an acquaintance of a friend of mine. I promised to look her up and see about her.

Joan: Do you have to see about her tonight?

Mike: It doesn’t look as though I can tonight.

Joan: [leaning in with a smile and enthusiasm] Darling! Let’s explore Trieste together!

-----------------

Joan: I’m with those people over there. They’re much duller than you are. But they got far better manners so I have to lie like the dickens. Especially that one guy! He’s the captain. He thinks he is a mate of mine. You know the kind. So I have to be nice to him. Darling, can you wait two minutes?

Mike: Yup.

Joan: Well... I hardly can! ....I’m going to, darling.

[Joan leans in and passionately kisses Mike. As her dress is low cut her cleavage shows.]

[Scene changes to a waiter looking through some curtains at Joan and Mike. He has an astonished expression, and as he brushes his hair back with his hand his toupee falls back.]

-----------

Mike: [To Janine concerning a man she knows] Well, he left in a hurry. It turned out he had an appointment to get killed. That’s right, his timing was a little off. You’ll be sorry to hear the car got him and not me.

----------

Janine: You’re making a great mistake Mr. Kells. Sam was my friend.

----------

Mike: [To Janine about Sam’s watch] Where did they get this? Did they take it off Sam’s body? Was it part of your pay?

----------

Janine: [To Mike and talking about Sam] He loved you as only some brothers love.

----------

Col. Mark Cagle: [About Janine] She’s an appealing dish no doubt. Most bad women are. One way or another, that’s why they can be so successfully bad.

----------

Col. Mark Cagle: [About bugging Janine’s apartment] I want to hear every word she says. I want to hear it when she reads.

----------

Mike: [About Joan] No. If I’m in this, it’s my own business. But she’s a woman. It’s lucky for her she’s sore at me. I stood her up last night.

Col. Mark Cagle: A thing like that just wets her appetite. She’ll meet you at one o’clock at the Nationale.

Mike: Don’t you stop at nothing?!

Col. Mark Cagle: She’s an American isn’t she? Let her do something for her country.

-----------

Joan: You started by arousing the mother instinct in me, and now you got the whole works worked up. And you got something stirred up!

----------

Sgt. Ernie Guelvada: [to Mike about Mike seeing Joan again, which Ernie finds appealing] That puts it right in the line of duty. Unnh! Some duty!

-----------

Sgt. Ernie Guelvada: [To Mike] Take it careful brother. You bruise easy.

------------

Mike: [To Janine] Oh no! No! No! I’ve been to your apartment. I don’t like what happens there. Like getting slugged.

------------

Sgt. Ernie Guelvada: You’re out of your mind going up there! You got a gun?

Mike: Ya.

Sgt. Ernie Guelvada: A flashlight?

Mike: No.

------------

Mike: [To Joan] Go home. Take off your spurs and go to bed.

------------

Joan: No questions please. I’m standing on the 5th amendment.

------------

Sgt. Ernie Guelvada: [upon seeing Joan] The widow lady! Live and learn.

Joan: If it isn’t the cavalry.

------------

Joan: [To Mike] Well, the next time you’re near Richmond, Indiana there’s a little drug store there. It’s practically the whole town. Well, drop in and tell them that the last time you saw me... the little girl is doing great. Just great.

--------------

Rasumny Platov: [(The head Communist spy) To Mike] So... as long you understand that if you do make it necessary, I will violate protocol with personal satisfaction.

-------------

[after escaping from a train and tumbling down a steep hillside, Mike and Janine come to rest next to each other]

Mike: You know something? This is the first time I really looked at you. Really looked at you, just as a girl.

Janine: [movie's last line] And so it is.

Okay, the last line doesn't exactly makes sense. But it doesn't matter, they are together.

If interested, the movie will be shown again on the Fox Movie Channel (FXM) cable channel this Thursday, May 1.

Fear and Trembling

Friday night I attended the final movie in the local college's French film festival. It would have been nice to have learned about the festival earlier so I could have attended more of the movies, but such is life.

The movie was shown in the theater at Hartnet Hall on the Minot State University campus. Many decades ago, out of high school, when I attended a few quarters of classes at what was called Minot State College, I attended a mathematics class in this very building. It was after hours now so I wasn't able to go through the building, but it appears to be totally a liberal arts building now.

I had just put into the oven a batch of cranberry/pumpkin muffins so as usual I was running late and I literally mean running. The theater was a little over a mile from mom's house and I ran most of the way there as I had 10 minutes to make it on time for the movie. Fortunately the wind was at my back and much of the distance was downhill. I made it to the theater and settled into a seat several minutes before the movie began. Running in the cool air gave me a small cough, and without water, it took a while into the movie for the tickle in my throat to leave.

How technology has changed. When I was younger movies at the university were shown on film projectors. Now as I waited for the movie to start, on the large screen, was the DVD's home page. The image of a face in white was floating about the screen and the music would loop over and over while "Play movie", "Extras", "Preview", etc were across the bottom of the screen.

On the screen classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach was being played. The image was a face of a woman painted in white against a backdrop of white. The face floated around and across the screen and sometimes only part of the face could be seen.

The only colors were her eyes when open, and the dark curve of her eyelashes when her eyes were closed. Also on her upper and lower lips were painted two small red squares of lipstick: bright red in the center of her lips below her nose.

While this style of lipstick may be a geisha's, I thought of Charlie Chaplin's mustache. You know, a partial mustache when the norm was a full one. Even though the rest of her lips were painted white to match her face you could see the outlines of her lips. (See the movie poster below for the image.) Interestingly, this image is only found on the poster and never in the movie.

In the theater there were less than 20 people in total so I had easy choice of a good seat. Just after the lights went dark and the movie started a couple came and scurried down to the row in front of me and just to my left. Darn, now I couldn't later stretch my long legs over the seat back in front of me during the movie.

Of the couple he wore a heavy turtleneck sweater, more of a Winter sweater than a Spring sweater. With his Nordic 30-something good looks and this sweater, he stereotypically looked to be a Liberal Arts professor. She looked ok and was more casually dressed than him and occasionally would snuggle close to him. Ah, the stuff of love, when a woman snuggles against a man. That is how one woman started to win my heart.

With such a small crowd many seemed to be French language students or French ex-patriots. This was especially noticeable after the film was over based on the women's looks and clothing attire and the French being spoken.

The movie shown was "Fear and Trembling" ("Stupeur et tremblements"). It is 2003 comedy from France about a young Belgian woman, Amelie, who, feeling Japanese, works at a large Japanese multi-national company for one year in 1990 and tries to fit in.

Ah, a comedy. That would be good. I should have expected as this was a foreign film - a French film - the comedy would be different. This movie's comedy tone was sardonic. It also had a message and I think the message was more important to the filmmaker than the comedy.

I think the filmmaker was operating under "Give them enough rope and let them hang themselves" in regards as to portraying the Japanese. The Japanese way was dominant and superior in the Japanese eyes, but as much as the Belgian woman tried to fit in, her way was the Western way and considered inferior. While the Western approaches Amelie used for situations was wrong for this environment, the Japanese way often appeared to be cruel, rigid, nonsensical, mean, and pointless.

The more Amelie tried to fit in, become Japanese, or be submissive to Fubuki, her female work leader, the more Fubuki showed her dominance and cruelty. All the while Amelie in a voice over mocked the environment she wanted to fit into, even while swooning over Fubuki's looks, which gave a lesbian undertone to Amelie's attraction to Fubuki and desire to please her.

The film wasn't boring, the lead actresses were attractive, at times the film was mildly amusing, but the film's tone had a feel of smugness, or being superior from a feigned inferior stance.

Fubuki was a 6 foot tall Japanese woman, taller than most of the men in the movie. Usually all the strands of her hair were all in place, although two photos of her I chose show otherwise. Her look was cold, clean, and severe in black business dress attire. She stood straight and tall. She had a look of dominance.

Amelie on the other hand was disheveled. Her clothes were often rumpled and of a color palette out of sync with the others in the office. Her hair was always unruly. Her walk was her own. Her height appeared to be a little over 5 foot and she looked to be a mouse next to Fubuki's "cat". The more she tried to fit into the Japanese way, the more she sincerely - or insincerely - took on a submissive posture and tone.

The line between message and comedy is a hard thing for a movie comedy to achieve successfully. There was more of a message than true comedy in this movie. Even the message was muddled. Was the movie more about the cultural differences between the Japanese and the West? Or was it more of a story of Amelie and Fubuki's strange dominant/submissive relationship across a cultural divide? In the end the movie left me unfulfilled.

I noticed that "stupeur" from the original French title appeared to be translated to fear. Stupeur sounds like "stupor", which is not fear in English.

stupor

1. A state of reduced consciousness or sensibility
2. a state in which one has difficulty in thinking or using one's senses

I translated "fear" into French and got "peur". Okay...

Having watched the movie the correct title in English would be "Stupor and Trembling". The Japanese culture of work, mind numbing dull, senseless, and useless work mixed with cruel intimidation, seems to reduce a person to a stupor. I guess "Stupor and Trembling" wouldn't make an appealing English movie title. However, as the original French title uses the word stupor, that gives you an insight into the tone and reason of the movie.

If you do visit the movie's imdb site for more information, there is a link to a preview of the movie.

For those interested in a similar subject on the Japanese/Western cultural divide, I recommend "Lost in Translation" from the same year. The movie's dreaminess and the Bill Murray / Scarlett Johansson romance are much more interesting.


After the movie was over I walked home alone. No one was outside and only the occasional vehicle drove by, and none once I left the university's property. It was dark and chilly now. In my hand I carried several handouts for a play and a book I had gotten from Hartnet Hall after the movie was over. Once one hand got cold I would switch the handouts to the other hand.

A large, dull, fuzzy cloud was overhead. Try as I may I could not see the stars overhead. Above the western horizon was a small gash in the clouds where the lighter night sky could be seen.

As I walked up the steep hill along 7th St I often would walk backwards so as to view the lights of downtown and the town in the valley. When I attended junior high school, up this very steep hill, this was my route from school to home.

The houses that were along the west side of the street until the land dropped away were the same as when I had walked this route decades ago. But they were unfamiliar to me. I have no memories and they have no specific features for me to remember them. All I remember is how, then as now, once I passed the last house there suddenly was only enough land for the sidewalk next to the road and the houses ended I could look way down one block over onto the houses, apartments, and streetlights along 8th street as the street made its way at a much more leisurely pace up the hill.

Science fiction, then and now

I grew up reading science fiction stories and watching science fiction and fantasy movies. Once I graduated from college and went off to work I can't remember reading any more science fiction stories. On the other hand as science fiction has moved more and more into mainstream Hollywood movies I have watched plenty of science fiction movies since then.

Last night I finished watching "Tin Man", a six hour TV mini-series that is a contemporary retelling of the "Wizard of OZ" story. "Tin Man" is a strong blend of science fiction and fantasy that has only a few elements from the original movie. Since the mini-series is six hours long there was more to the story than what was shown in the old movie. Apparently the book's author wrote sequels; and I remember reading some graphic novels that may have been based on those novels. I think elements from those novels made their way into the mini-series as some elements, not from the movie, seem familiar. There was no singing in this mini-series.

As you can see Dorthy, or DG as she is called here, isn't dressed in a dress. This Dorthy is not that feminine. This is a reflection how society has changed between 1939 and now. Other than her long hair, with her clothes and huskier voice, this Dorthy seems more masculine.

I've noticed in TV science fiction movies and shows a number of the scenes are out in nature. This is probably because these shows don't have a huge budget for special effects. But it may also be a conscious attempt to balance the sterile futuristic images. In "Tin Man" there are a number of scenes that take place in forests. As I watched these scenes I liked them. I started thinking, outside of science fiction and fantasy movies, I seldom see extended movie scenes in forests with tall trees. Seems kind of odd, doesn't it? Here I am watching a science fiction movie and the forest scenes are reminding me of my hiking trips. I sit there thinking, "I'd like to hike there" as I watch the movie and forget about the science fiction/fantasy part of the movie.

Another thing I notice now about science fiction is my attitude to it has changed from my younger days. I think that is partly because science fiction has changed over the years, and partly because I have changed.

Science fiction has changed. It has always changed over the years. I remember that I could roughly tell the decade when a science fiction story was written due to its style and subject matter as both changed drastically over time, at least up until the 1980s when I fell away from reading science fiction stories. Still, while the style of science fiction has changed, the underpinning of science fiction being an imagining of the future and of fantastic things does not change.

So my thoughts about and attraction to science fiction shouldn't have changed. But it has. I watch science fiction today and it is now with a detached interest instead of with a 'fanboy' enthusiasm and obsession. I suppose that is good as a 'fanboy' enthusiasm can be labeled 'geek' or 'nerd', and one has to grow up sometime. But, you know, enthusiasm is a good thing. And when I remember my enthusiasm for science fiction and now recognize its absence, I feel as if I lost something.

It is all part of growing and moving through life. A person evolves and their interests change over time. I have passions today, hiking especially. But that is a physical and spiritual enthusiasm, not an intellectual one. I wonder if I have lost my ability to dream and wonder. That ability allows one to think differently and 'outside the box' (to use a cliche). It also enables a person to embrace the future.

Movie: Idiot's Delight

A few nights ago, very late at night, I watched an old Clark Gable movie, Idiot's Delight. The movie was released in 1939, the 'golden year' of Hollywood movies. This movie is nowhere near golden. It may almost be so bad that it is 'good'. It certainly is an odd movie.

Clark Gable plays Harry Van, a vaudeville actor with little talent who is going backwards in his career. In the beginning Norma Shearer plays Irene, an acrobat with dreams of love and fame. Then more than ten years later she reappears as Irene, a fake Russian Countess traveling on the arm of a munitions manufacturer.

Clark Gable: "You can call that sentimental, Mrs. Weber, but that is true."

Norma Shearer: "Forgive me, but that is not my name."

Clark Gable: "Oh. I thought -"

Norma Shearer: "I know what you thought. Mr Weber and I are associated in a sort of business way."

Clark Gable: "I see. Um, business is pretty good, isn't it?"

Gable plays a variation of his typical 1930s roles, a charming, rough around the edges, doing it his way, type of guy.

Norma Shearer: "But I have talked too much about myself. What about you my friend?"

Clark Gable: "Oh, I'm not very interesting. I'm just what I seem to be."

Shearer's character as a Russian Countess is so over the top one has to wonder if Shearer is a bad actress hamming it up, the part was poorly written, or a combination of both. Or maybe Shearer's character is based on a real life Russian refuge from the 1917 Russian Revolution?

For the following dialog imagine Norma Shearer wearing a long platinum blond wig, waving a cigarette in a long cigarette holder, talking with a thick Russian accent, and overacting as she talks.

Norma Shearer: "My father was old. The hardships of that terrible journey had broken his body. But his spirit was strong. His spirit that is... Russia.

He lay there in that little boat. And he looked up at me. -- Never can I forget his face. So thin. So white. So beautiful in the starlight.

And he said to me, 'Irena... little daughter'. And then... he died.

For four days I was alone with his body. Sailing through the storms of the Black Sea. I had no food. No water. I was in agony from the violent wounds of the Bolshevikii. I knew I must die.

And then.. an American cruiser rescued me. May Heaven bless those good men!"

Clark Gable: "Ahem. Excuse me Madame. But it seems to me that the last time you told me about your escape it was different."

Norma Shearer: "Well! I made several escapes."

The movie originally was a play and the movie looks and it feels like it. Not a good thing for a movie.

The movie's time line starts at the end of WWI and goes to 1939 and the outbreak of WWII. The first half of the movie, where Gable and Shearer, down on their luck, meet in Omaha, Nebraska during a vaudeville show, has the typical screwball comedy charm of 1930s movies. Their later meeting at a hotel in the European Alps is where things get strange. The movie switches to a pre-WWII anti-war message that today seems odd as we now know the reason for WWII. From my University history classes I recognize that the movie's anti-war message is a reaction to WWI because the movie blames munition manufacturers for wars.

The movie's anti-war message was also harmed by Burgess Meredith's character's strident spouting of his peace message. Meredith's character seemed as if he burst in from another movie. It felt like we were getting a lecture and I was happy when the soldiers hauled him off. It didn't help that I was thinking "The Penguin" from the Batman TV show when I saw Meredith. Even if he was skinny back then, the voice remains the same.

Burgess Meredith: "While you sit here eating and drinking, their planes dropped fifty thousand kilos of bombs on innocent people. Heavens knows how many were killed; how much of life and beauty is forever destroyed. And you sit here eating and drinking with them, the murderers. It was their planes from the very field down there. Assassins!!!"

Also odd was Clark Gable singing and dancing to the song "Putting on the Ritz". He did ok, but his body's proportions, or the suit he was wearing, made him look odd. He looked to have too short of legs for his body.

Norma Shearer: "You are a very bad dancer."

Clark Gable: "Hmmm... in Romania they thought I was pretty good."

The ending - or I should say "endings" - as there was a domestic and international ending - was surreal. By then I had surrendered to incomprehension as to the goal of the movie. Gable and Shearer were shouting and singing and playing piano, declaring their love, and making plans for their future against a phony backdrop of plane after plane outside the large windows dive bombing their hotel and the valley below. And the point was?

Norma Shearer: "Harry, do you realize the whole world has gone to war? The whole world!"

Clark Gable: "I realize it, but don't ask me why. I've stopped trying to figure it out."

Norma Shearer: "I know why it is. It's just to kill us - you and me. Because we are the little people. And for us, the deadliest weapons are the most merciful."

[Gable grabs her by her shoulders]

Clark Gable: "Easy..."

Norma Shearer: "I've never cared before, but now I want to live."

Clark Gable: "So do I, but if we don't, let's hope we make a fast exit."

Norma Shearer: "Then together."

[An explosion from a large bomb falling nearby. Gable turns and shakes his fist in the air.]

Clark Gable: "Nice try buddy, but you muffed it!"

Later Norma Shearer asked, "Harry, do you know any hymns?" Then they sang a hymn while Clark Gable played a piano while many planes flew in the background and bombs fell all around. The underside of a few planes were seen just outside the large hotel window as the planes dived down to the valley below.

The last line in the international version of the movie was by Norma Shearer,

"Look Harry! They've gone away."

The last line in the domestic version of the movie was by Clark Gable as he played an upbeat tune on a piano that was tilted sideways due to a broken leg,

"Hey, over here boys! Over here! See the big show. See the greatest aggregation of talent in the world."

The movie would have been helped by having a main villain to go against, a human to personify evil, instead of odd characters railing against "events" and faceless evildoers. It was confusing to see the soldiers lambasted by Burgess Meredith one minute and the next minute see the showgirls ("Les Blondes") girlishly fawn all over the soldiers.

The dialog was so over the top at times that I rewound the VCR to write down accurately some of the lines. It was late at night when I watched this movie and I didn't trust if the late hour was making the dialog sound loopy. The late hour wasn't.

Here are a few samples of the dialog. The movie had lots more over-the-top dialog, but if I wrote more down I would have been up all night.

Clark Gable and Norma Shearer are parting at a train station in Omaha, Nebraska. His vaudeville act is falling apart and she is an acrobat who unsuccessfully tried to get him to take her on as a partner in his fake mind-reading act to replace the drunken old lady who is his current partner. He has known Norma Shearer less than 24 hours, and this being a 1939 movie, it is unclear if they spent the night together, though the indications are she stayed in his hotel room at the end of their previous scene together.

Clark Gable: "The world you live in isn't a world of facts and figures; it's a world of dreams. Maybe that's what I like about you Irene. You're so beautifully phony."

Norma Shearer: "And maybe you're wrong my darling. Maybe we two cheap people, with our cheap lives, maybe we're the only ones in this crazy world who are real."

They hug, do a quick "1930s kiss", then hug again.

Clark Gable: "Well, we gotta be pulling out now babe."

Norma Shearer: "I know, but not together."

Clark Gable: "No, not together. You go your way and I go mine. But I got a hunch we'll see each other again. Sometime."

Unfortunately for the movie audience they did meet again.

You know, for such a bad movie, it sure made an impression on me. I think it is because of Clark Gable's charm. I also enjoyed the banter between Gable and Norma Shearer. When they meet again in Europe she pretends not to know him and he spends a lot of time trying to get her to admit they had met in Omaha.

Norma Shearer: "The temple of your memory must be so crowded."

Clark Gable: "Are you sure you've never been in Omaha, Madame?"

Norma Shearer: "Here we are, on a mountain peak in bedlam. Tonight war is breaking over the world. And all you worry about is whether I am a girl you once casually met in Oma - ha-ha-ha."

Clark Gable: "Ha-ha-ha. Did I say it was casual?"

Clark Gable: "Somehow or other I couldn't help feeling touched, that of all the sordid hotels you've been in, that you should have remembered that one. "

Norma Shearer: "The age of chivalry still lives!"

While I didn't care much for the part of the movie set in the Alps, I did enjoy the mountain scenery shown in the background. Beautiful!

Lastly, reviewing what I have written, and having watched modern movies since then, I realize another reason why I am growing fond of this movie. It may be because - as goofy as some of the dialog was - at least there was dialog. Today's movies are weak on dialog, and often the dialog these days is just an attempt for a character to toss off a one liner between action sequences.

"I told you then that I wasn't everybody. It's true; I'm nobody. But I learned it was no use telling the truth to people whose life was a whole lie." -- Norma Shearer as Irene

"It's a pleasure to be entertaining, but you can't get away with it." -- Clark Gable as Harry Van

"Oh, 'Kak Stranna!' How strange!" -- Norma Shearer as Irene

Flu and Comanche Moon

Tuesday I was sick with the 24 hour flu. Monday my brother was sick with this flu and then I came down with it the next day.

I'm glad it was only a 24 hour flu as I was miserable the whole time. I was able to keep from vomiting but I had all the other flu symptoms. I woke up with the flu Tuesday morning and when I woke up Wednesday morning the flu was completely gone. I do remember waking up briefly Tuesday night/Wednesday morning so soaked in sweat from head to toe that I could feel the sweat was running down my body. That must be when the flu broke as when I woke up later the flu was gone.

While laying on the couch resting I decided to finish watching the TV mini-series, Comanche Moon. I love watching westerns, and really liked the Lonesome Dove TV mini-series. However the end of Comanche Moon added to my flu misery.

Comanche Moon is the prequel to Lonesome Dove and explains how the two main male characters, Gus and Woodrow, lost the loves of their life, with one of the women dying at the end. A downer way to end the movie.

I realize the movie had to explain how Gus and Woodrow came to be the people they were in Lonesome Dove. The problem is that most everyone dies, leaves, or goes crazy in this movie. It is one thing to reminisce about past loves and missed opportunities in Lonesome Dove; it is quite another thing to go though losing those loves and missing those opportunities, especially when the movie script isn't that good.

One last thing, the temperature got down to a new record low last night: -25 F. The end of February and still cold. It has warmed up to -2 F now.