Tonight is the Oscars. How trivial

BUT. I think I missed only two of them in the last forty years, and they fascinate me. Mostly because I grew up on the so-called American Dream, and worked ten years in the branch before I left.

Have seen practically nothing of the ones nominated this year. But here are my guesses, based on past things I saw, and people who were deserving and passed over. Cate Blanchett for the one or best supporting actress, and if she gets the lesser one, I will EAT Terribles's 'revolver' soup and throw up, and never speak to anyone again. For a while anyway. She is the most luminous person I have seen on screen since Julie Christie.

Daniel Day Lewis for best actor. I haven't seen 'There Will Be Blood', but I KNOW what he can do. And he should have gotten it for 'Gangs of New York', but the Establishment has this resentment against Martin Scorcese. And he was grandious FRIGHTENING in it. Johnny Depp still looks too young, but has an impressive track record. He will get one yet, mark my words.

I hope, very MUCH hope, that Sondheim gets the award for best adapted sound score. That music is hauntingly beautiful.

But those who know me know that I have been going ON for a decade or more about Sweeney Todd, and 'THAT MUSIC!' (And yeah, about Mrs. Lovett, and how she bakes people into pies.) And why Sweeney becomes a serial killer. But it was always about the MUSIC, combined with the lyrics, and it gets close to opera, which he has ALWAYS denied, but that is how it was perceived....

It is THE masterpiece of American theatre in the last century. In my opinion. Am not so sure that the film realises the potential from what I have seen and heard.

Another favorite for me is Persiana, in the animated category. That sounds fantastic, but hasn't played here.

In the foreign film category, well, whaddaya know? An Austrian director is in there for 'The Counterfeiters'. Big party planned in Carynthia, the state south of me. (We have nine.) BUT... I don't think it will come about this time despite the good things I have heard about it. I DO think that 'Taxi to the Dark Side' will win. Because it would be a slap in the face to the Bush administration. Also a true story. And we have to look at NOW, not then. And as much as I admire people willing to look back, and rub people's faces in their PASTS... I think it will win because, THIS is NOW.

Otherwise, won't have a clue.

At the same time, I learned that there is gonna be a Sixty-Minute exposé about a certain Mr. Siegelman, who got sandbagged my a certain Mr. Rove, running simutaneously.

Am certain I will find the 'good ' stuff on 'Crooks and Liars'.

But just for today... It is Oscar day. Always been part of my life. Some people like to go to basketball or baseball games? I like to go to the Oscars via my tee-vee. And watch the pretty people. And absolutely FREAK out over how bloody OLD the people I admired became, meanwhile. It is just life.

Terrible, you got a TIVO? Otherwise it doesnt work, and the other is more important.

Just sayin...

Update.... Well, it is over, and: Oh.... MY! Well, I haven't been paying too close attention, have I? I had been under the impression that 'Taxi to the Dark Side' was in the foreign film category, not purely a documentary. So both it and 'The Counterfeiters' won. How very good. Betcha they had a hell of a celebration in Carynthia. Yup. And I hadn't realised that the best adapted score category got eliminated somewhere along the line.

So surprised that Tilda Swinton got best supporting actress, but can't tell, that movie hasn't been shown here yet. But she seems to be a very funny lady. But Marion Cotillard taking the main prize for actress? I REALLY thought it would be a close call between Cate Blanchett and Julie Christie. Looks like I'm going to have to make Terrible's Revolver Soup. Yup.

One thing about that award is a little bit unfair. She couldn't DO the Piaf songs, so they had another artist sing them. Her performance WAS gut-wrenching, and difficult to watch. But still. They cribbed on that a bit. (James Wolcott of Vanity Fair recently wrote about seeing it and practically RUNNING out of the cinema after about twenty minutes of it, so I guess I have a better stomach than he does. Ha. And 'reviewed' it a while ago... in the movies tag in the side-bar.)

What I mean is, I have seen 'Piaf' on-stage, done by an incredible Swiss actress. And it was full of the chansons, of course. And the ugly things, but it wasn't to the point where you recoil in horror. She didn't 'imitate' Piaf's singing, but it came so close, it was incredible, and you ended up with shivers running up your spine. And won a mess of awards for her performance, deservedly so. So there's a difference there, you know? I would have expected that award to go to someone who 'did it all their own selves'. Just sayin'....

Otherwise.... well someone must have dosed Jon Stewart with a heavy hit of valium. Everyone was fairly pc. None of the winners made asses of themselves. A tad boring, in other words. And they really had enough time to add the wonderful Roy Scheider to the 'In Memoriam' clip, but didn't. (That was one very sexy guy, btw...) Tja. Another year and another generation gone....

OK. Gloves OFF

I really, REALLY HATE racist shit. And Bill O has been a festering thorn in my side since 2001 when I got subjected to his pompous, fatuous, bloviating FAUX news face. He has been appalling. I threw things at my tee-vee screen. And yelled.

And I am usually a calm person.

Usually....

BUT.....

That excuse for a human being, SETS ME OFF.

That cowardly little MO-FO wants to set off a LYNCHING PARTY against Michelle Obama??? If she says she doesn't like the way the country looks in the world? Well, at least she LOOKS outside of her borders, just sayin'

Na, hör AUF damit! Stop this shit NOW.

You have the power and the telephones and e-mail addresses to STOP that ass, and cold-cock him.

I have been TRYING to link to a photo and that horrible radio clip, but Blogger won't let me. GO over to www.crooksandliars.com They set me OFF, hey.

Now where did I put that back-pack?

Jeebus.

Ok, found one. And before you go off the charts for WONDERING.... That EXCUSE for a human being sets himself up with 'family values' shit. Nowadays he looks sort of ghoulish, but y'all KNOW I like horror films.

But just Google 'Andrea Makris', hey. And you will find out, because I am definitely not going to take you there.

And 'twisted' as I am... it would never have occurred to me to shove a vibrating dildo up my ASS while talking to ANYONE because I wouldn't be able to get OFF any other way. Ja, ja. Family 'values' IN-deed, hey. And racist.

just when you think you are not a backward-looking person....

( and we all KNOW what the late Tammy Faye Bakker said: 'You can't go forward lookin' in the rear-view mirror of your LIFE.' For all the absurdity about her, that was a good one, just sayin.')

But just when you think that, a 'day' comes around, one you wish had never happened... one that was a watershed development, and so earth-shaking, it is worth taking a moment, and ]]]] look BACK [[[[[ (nah, am not gonna go all 'drama queen' on ya....)

One year ago today, about two hours from now, I took Peter grocery shopping at a supermarket. I had a hard time getting him down the stairs, and actually wanted to put it off to the next day. He said his blood sugar was too low. But he was so hectic, I gave in. Big mistake, hey....

Well, he used to do little things to irritate me, you see? One of them was fidgeting around when I was trying to steer. Or braking with his foot at the most inopportune time. We used to be 'teh' hit at the market with macabre jokes about how I was gonna 'dispose' of him up-river where there are ducks. Sort of: 'scarin' the horses', hey. Gawd, how we all laughed....

And then, he seemed a bit wonky when I rolled him into the supermarket. And then... and then... he fell over to one side, and nearly tipped out of the chair.

And what do you think my first reaction was? I smacked him one on the shoulder, HARD, and yelled, 'What the FUCK are you DOING?!!! SIT UP, hey!. I can't steer!' So how is THAT for 'empathetic', hey? I am ashamed to this day that I didn't see it for what it was, immediately. It happened so fast.

It took me at least one minute to realise..... something is very wrong here. And this 'voice' was in my head, yelling, 'STROKE! STROKE!' and another saying, 'stay calm, sugar too low. ' I got him to the check-out, grabbed an ice-cream on the way as a last hope, 'please tell me this isn't happening' ploy on the way out, and tried to feed him some. And these people were yelling at me, what was I thinking of, putting the pillow so crooked, and making him lop-sided, and trying to right him up. I've seen many a horror film, and liked them, but that was just so off-the-wall REAL... Horrible....

It glopped out of his mouth and fell on his jacket, and normally, he'd have gone ape-shit over that. No reaction. I wanted to get an ambulance, FAST.

He insisted he wanted to go home. There isn't a mule in Missouri more stubborn than Peter. And me in full panic mode. 'He'll never get up the stairs. And then I can call the ambulance.'
I have NEVER ran those three blocks so FAST in my life.

And called the ambulance.

He refused to go with them. He really didn't know what had hit him. They were so kind, and time was of the essence. Didn't want to budge, and I had no real 'status' or 'right' to say, 'You get him out of here. NOW!' No rights, Preciousses...

I was off-the-charts for 'helpless'.

(I fucking hate 'helpless'.)

The Red Cross people couldn't just leave him there. So they called the police. One big BULL of a guy, about my age, and four petite police-ettes. Uh-HUH, I thought, this is REALLY going to 'help'. Jawohl...

But it worked. And in that moment, he was so fucking angry with me. Thinking I had sicced the cops on him. They took him away in an ambulance, and he glared at me out the window. I sort of died inside, at that moment.

Three hours later, he called me and thanked me for intervening.

Fuck. Just... fuck.

So... happy anniversary, Peter. I so SO wish it had gone down otherwise, but am not clairvoyant.

And the next time someone wants to tell you about 'teh gays', and their supposed agenda, think about how that felt for me. How it is to have NO RIGHTS. And that fucking helpless....

We are just people, too. It really does not matter whom you love. One of the best things you can say in your life, is THAT you loved, with all your heart, and it really doesn't matter whom it was. What MATTERS is if they gave you that little piece of their heart and loved you back, as imperfect as it is.

And NOTHING is perfect. We all know that.

So.... now that I have THAT outta my system.... can we look forward now and see what the windshield TELLS us, hey?

Just don't tell me more storms on the horizon. I need time.

Just sayin'

It is wonderful to know you have friends out there...

who can make you smile, when everything looks so bleak. Annti is sort of a miracle to me. She had this photo up of how she thinks I would react to the meme of 'ceiling cat' (who created the universe, and mankind, and so on.) Good GAWWD. I wish I could look that cool.....

Huh... how odd. And Kafka...

I have had to do some bureaucratic stuff the past few days. It was so odd, and surreal.... First I went to the wrong building, the one I used to have to get work permits at.

'ÄÄÄÄÄhh! Wrong!', as Alf used to say before the CIA got him. (Cat lovers will hate me for that reference, but that was a funny show.)

So this polite person noticed I was uncertain, and explained that the place I needed is in a spanking new building fifteen minutes' walk away. Oh.

So I went over there, of course. Fully automated. It reminded me of the film 'Brazil', so it was sort of Orwell, also. And on the left was only for persons born between January and June. And on the right was for those born between July and December. So I went right. There were a mess of machines in there, and everything hyper-modern. And touch screen computers. When the hell did they do all this, and how did we, the taxpayers, PAY for it? Somewhat disorienting.

On the right were little teller counters, labelled A-H. And I thought, 'Am I in the right PLACE?' 'G' was free, but they all had signs saying you couldn't talk to the persons at the counter without a 'ticket'. Whatever that was. And, yes, they actually used the English word. And I must have looked totally, totally lost, because the little guy in 'G' asked, 'What are you looking for?' I told him, and he said I had to go to a machine and punch out a ticket and then wait till my number came up and then I would see what counter I had to go to on a huge screen they have, and when your number comes up it beeps like those backing-up-trucks' warning signals. Unnerving, it was just unnerving...

So I punched my ticket out, and then about ten minutes later... my number came up and I had to go to.... Mr. 'G'. To be fair, he didn't look like he was DOING anything important, and no one was there... but I thought, 'Good Gawd, this is Kafka.'

'Give me your health insurance number.' I did. He typed stuff in... (then... him, shocked)

'You've never been here before.'

'No.'

'Are you an Austrian citzen?'

'Yes.'

'You 'escaped ' from the US?'

(And yes, he actually said that, am making nothing up here....)

'In a manner of speaking, yes. You wouldn't understand. But I would do it again in a second.'

It was so surreal. Kept wanting to speak English with me. He had all my papers.... In the end, he was nice. I guess he had to work by the rules. They never used to...

They would get their xenophobic stuff right in your face.

And then said I have to come back today, and go to room 19 at a certain hour. With certain papers.

And a form I had to fill out.

So... was putting all the stuff together this morning to go to )))ROOOM 19(((
(It sort of sounded like, 'beam me up, Scotty', and I get to see the mother-ship.)

And discovered......

Some people do NOT know what an oral contract is, one that is pre-dated, and then in writing, and signed. Then it becomes a binding contract. And you keep it, hey, just sayin'.....

And not then give you something official with something TOTALLY ELSE on it. Or actually try to BRIBE you into the worst decision you could make for a pittance more, and ruin you in the long run. I nearly heaved.

(Nearly, Annti, but then I got angry.)

Someone tried to talk me into the worst thing I could have decided, to 'their' gain, as I learned later. Or that is what I've learned since, at any rate....

Uh-HUH.

I was so fucking hurt...

There was a guy who had an appointment in room 18. Sort of Middle-East looking. And NO I did not look to see if he had a back-pack, or for signs of wanting to blow us up. I didn't care, at that point.

So both parties were free, we were a little early, and both go to see if we can get this all over with a few minutes earlier, and whaddaya know, hey....

Mr. Middle East gets sent back out to wait till EXACTLY the appointed time, and I go to room 19, (neither of them had people in there....) , and I say 'good morning, am little 'over-puncual'... 'NO, come in!' A twenty-something, very adept young, very attractive woman with a nice smile and honest eyes. Since I'm still written up sick, she wrote me up as being put inactive for the moment. The money comes from the health insurance, meanwhile, I learned. What the fuck do I KNOW, hey.

The person I had to deal with was NICE.

So it was ok.

Will be hanging in the air for months.

Maybe I can do a trapeze routine, and learn to do a fan dance simultaneously while I'm at it.....

Who knows... and as much as that pisses Annti off.... It is only your sense of humour that gets you through it darlin', I know that for a FACT.

Right....

Carry on. Nothing to see here....

Ok, let's face it... I am NEVER going to learn.....

Yesterday, I thought my stomach thing was over after a week. Was supposed to do something today which so goes against the grain... I got dry heaves and tried to vomit for hours. Only there was nothing to come up. So I thought if that keeps up, well, terrific muscle work-out for the abdomen, I could develop a six-pack. Annti is off the charts for hounding me into have someone run a tube into my stomach to look for ulcers. There is no blood coming out of one end or the other, so NO. When I first met Peter, his mother was dying. He used to go home after night shifts and find blood all over the place. And they were so awful with the gastroscopy, he often went off the charts for being helpless, and outraged. My empathy brought us together, actually.

Well, Precioussesss... I didn't dare leave the house this morning. I am so rusty, am not ABOUT to try a triple Rittberger and dry heave into the gutter near the bus stop. Some things Really should be private. So around noon, I tried to cook something that wouldn't just wouldn't come up.

So I made me some instant mashed potatoes. Bland. Stayed down. Some toast with cheese. Bland. And then two DARING BLTs. I hadn't thought of them in years....

Stayed down.

Progress is being made....

And then, my colleague who likes musicals goes ON about the High School Musical films. Plural. Well, you know the first one sort of freaked me out. The sequel? I fucking went and bought it, because she likes it and because I like her very much. The subtext is even MORE perverse than the first one, and so REALLY fits in Annti's meme nowadays. Class war. SO FUCKING AMERICA.

Bottom line? You stay in YOUR PLACE, you stay in YOUR CLASS, you do not betray YOUR friends, and if you are really, REALLY industrious, you will get what you want. And whore yourself out. Best fairy tale ever written, hey. They put a super-sugar-glazed chocolate icing over the message, and the kids are talented, the choreography is stupendous, the songs are great. But what are these people DOING to young minds all over the world, hey?

Disney--- pouring the American Dream all over the world. And if you don't MAKE it---it's your fault. Because GOD, whoever she is doesn't like that. I'm so old, it doesn't matter. But it very much bothers me. That is fucking heinous.

Your potty mouthed hippie in spirit.

Well, just paint me green with yeller polka dots, hey...

My father e-mailed me, sort of wondering. He is a young 92 year old. And he was tee-vee surfing, and suddenly ran into this bitch, Ann Coulter, on a talk show, you see. And she kind of freaked him out. Nasty, much? If she was here she would be in JAIL, hey. One of the most incendiary assholes on the face of this planet.

So first he doubted that she is a woman at all. Or transgendered. Now I have NEVER spoken to him about Ann Coulter, and there have been rumours out there for a long time. I practically fell off my chair for laughing. I guess if you get to be older than 80 you call it like you see it, and don't give a fuck. (For those of you who do not know.... she has the biggest Adam's apple you have ever seen, and huge hands.)

And a vitriolic meme----just poison stuff. And she is loved by the MSM. (main-stream-media) Whatever. She was shilling for her new book. And my Dad wasn't sure if what she was spewing was just PR, or if she really believed what she was saying. (It was clear to him that she was a Rethug, as he calls them...)

And he was able to take ten minutes of her vile, and then turned the tee-vee OFF.

And then he goes and asks me who the fuck she IS. Now how the hell do you answer that?

And the best thing EVER? She would vote for Hillary over McCain. Uh-HUH.

All of a sudden, hey.

Well you tell me, darlin's.

Because I certainly do not get it. And my Dad is way cool.

What an ODD day....immigration issues, actually...

No, don't run away, will not whine or bitch, promise, hand on my heart and swear to Gawd, whoever she is..... Am not sure what that doctor gave me, but it sure is weird....

At five a.m. I checked Murika blog, and the results were Obambi leading in delegates.

And then I had to go get Peter and taking him over to the square to get shaved, because he can't do it since his stroke, and I am NOT about to go out and get a straight razor. Uh-UH... Contrary to popular rumour, I am not Sweeney Todd..... yet....

So he tells me the local radio reported the opposite, and the sHill is ahead with delegates. Well, we sort of argued over that one, but he turns out to be right. Whatever. So much can happen in three hours, hey...

I got him out of the house, and had my Porsche of a heart racing at Monza this morning. Not so good. And wheeled him over to Mr. Enver Bakota's one-man little hair-cutting salon. (No, he is not Sweeney Todd, either....) Near my home, out on the square. He seems to be a nice person, and has a nice way about him. Except he was a bit grouchy today.

As per usual, I went outside and had a cigarette. Seems he spilled his guts while I was out. Peter told me about it afterward. Mr. Bakota is Turkish. Been here six years. He had to get his extension to stay here, and normally, the way it used to be, if you had been here five years, you got a five-year extension for a work permit, and my goodness, did I ever have to go there. They often weren't so friendly, you know?

My most fun time was this horrible woman who once loudly remarked that foreigners stink? Loudly enough so that everyone heard. Well I had to go back home and get some missing papers, and put on so much Christian Dior cologne, I STANK. Nice stuff, but too much... you know, so bad an Ami would start yelling 'This is a NO ODOR zone!' Well sort of overwhelming. And sort of moved so she nearly got the overwhelmed part of it, hey. (My gawwd it is FUN to be young and reckless.... and a little bit MEAN.) Believe me, she got the point, and that stuff was expensive---

Whatever, today it made me go into Dickens mode for outrage at social injustice.... And sick to my stomach, hey. Gave me the dry heaves. (I haven't been able to keep anything down for over a week, just soup. )

They only gave him one year, NEW RULES, as Bill Maher would say... And he had to pay over three hundred Euros for it. That is one hell of a lot of money for what he is taking in.

He speaks well, is industrious, it just is not FAIR. I was in there two days ago because I hadn't shaved in five days and had to go to the doctor's, and was so upset, I nearly puked, and had to leave fast. Wanted a shave because my bloody Bics are no use if wait so long,
(Yeah, I have this puking thing. I can not keep anything down, hardly. Yup, just eat it and throw it up, like an anorexic ballerino. Is that a WORD? Just askin')

When I wheeled Peter over there, Enver was so concerned about that.... I played it down.

It was just basic human kindness, and we could use a lot more of that around here.

Maybe I am sort of off-the-wall crazy at the moment. But it seems to me, well, this used to be a country which was at the forefront of taking in political refugees, even if it was a small place. It was something that made me PROUD to be an adopted---(some people would maintain a 'sneaked in member' ) of this wonderful country. And of all the ones over the past thirty years, most used us as a stopping place to go elsewhere, where the job prospects were better.

But it was always Eastern Europe, Caucasian types at first. And then came some Indonesians. A bunch of Africans. And Asians. Well, how exciting. EXCEPT.... they won't give them work permits in most cases, nowadays....

The 'locals' get pretty freaked when people who are sort of brown or yellowish suddenly turned up. They do not handle it well. And they go sort of Dachshund for attack little ankle biters, 'because they do not learn German' immediately. Well, Preciousses, MOST of them speak about five languages fluently. The locals mostly do not. German is not exactly easy to learn. (There is some hope in the younger generation, that they learn other languages. They should not be so insular or xenophobic.)

It is not FAIR. If you fucking take them in, you have to give them a CHANCE. Or you change the rules and do not let them in at all. You DO NOT put them out on the streets selling newspapers, or delivering them, where in one case, a perfectly peaceful guy I knew, so tiny and decent, got knifed by some racist pig and hurt so badly he can't work any more. Permanent damage. And refuse now to give them a work permit. So some of them go into criminal activities just to keep food on the table, and it reinforces the locals' predjudices. Which reinforces my anger, so I throw up a lot.

And while we are on the fucking subject... I have had intimtate relations with people from five of seven continents. (The guy from North Korea, sort of freaked me out. But I had a nice Japanese friend...... And the guy from Peru was 'pretty'.... Just sayin'...)

If there is a POINT to all of this... People are just people. Some of them are so nice you could fall in love. Some of them are not. I get so fucking Angry, when I see people diss people because they do not look like them. Didn't they EVER look in their eyes??? It never matters whom one is intimate with as long as the chemistry is right. And now that I have done my 'whore of Babylon' post.... Well....

Am SO under the bed.

Huh. I was going to do something 'fun' today. Uh huh..... The formidable, incomparable, extraordinary TRex had me nearly falling off my chair laughing today. I never thought an old geek from New England would fall for the incredible charm and wit of one of the most erudite writers I have ever run across. From Georgia. The South still produces some of the most wonderful gentlemen and ladies I have ever had the honour to meet. Sorta crazy, but gentlemen and ladies.

Maybe tomorrow. Who knows?

So take a look at those 'strange' people who pass you by on the street. Some of them might enrich your life one thousand fold.

TRex is in my side bar. When he is really good, he is a wonder. That guy is on FIRE, hey, and I wish I could be that funny. Some stuff is so wonderful.

Now what did that doctor fucking GIVE me for meds? Bloody odd, hey...

Tja. Well, tomorrow is another day.... and how trite.

The Ash Wednesday after (Ha) Tsunami Tuesday

Really, you just have to give a Pulitzer Prize to some so-called journalists who come up with something that assinine. Oh, I know they have done worse..... Why don't they have a sort of Raspberry award for the ones who dumb-down a world audience so that they might get a clue, huh?

Yes, you guessed correctly, I did my rounds on the blogosphere this morning, curious as to what the peeps 'decided'. The MSM is pushing the sHill as winner-in.... The link above tells us why the results might be something else altogether, although the tone is sort of cheerleading....

I have this very uncomfortable mental connection when I hear the term 'Ash Wednesday'. At first, it didn't mean much to me, and yes, was brought up in the RCC faith, but it was just the day you were forced to go to Church, and some creep dirtied up your forehead with a thumb-print.... probably from the cigarettes they smoked out of the ash-tray from the night before, after having had a hell of a time on Maundy Tuesday with a bunch of cabana boys, looking back at it now, but what do I know?

But when I was about seventeen or so, and a very verklemmt and inhibited young person, I read a novel, you see. (Nothing new, I read seven to ten books a week for over thirty years of my life, hey...) That one totally shocked me. The novel was in four (or five?) sections, and was extremely well-written. It was about a young man, who sells himself sexually. (There is a point to this, btw.) It was brilliantly written, not pornographic, but way out there for telling some truths absolutely no one ever wanted to hear.

It ends in New Orleans, on Ash Wednesday, and is so depressing. The I-narrator has been offered love the evening before and rejected it, and is in a world of pain. And that is what Ash Wednesday became to me. I knew I had 'feelings', and they frightened me to death. Almost... And that novel opened up a world I had no idea existed. It shook the foundation of the world as I knew it. I had felt like the most alone person on the face of this planet.

But that was in the Sixties, and in the whole book, just about every figure was a sort of a freak, someone you so NOT to want to emulate. And then the main character rejects the only person who seemed 'normal', and reached out. I believe I read it later, but it shook me then, as well. It left me with absolutely no hope, probably retarded my personal development by years. I so did NOT want to go there, not if there were people like that around.... Like most people, I just wanted to be loved..... What a crime.....

So why am I telling you all this? Easy. I look around me, as a person open to the world, and in the election race, looked for someone to believe in and who would give you hope. Someone who would give everyone a sense of anticipation, and participating, and being a part of a community. (Yeah, am so old I saw John Kennedy speak, and you wouldn't BELIEVE how he electrified the public.)

I wish I could be as enthusiastic as the diarist up in the link, but I am not. One needs leaders one can look UP to. Where did he suddenly get thirty MILLION dollars, huh? Something fishy there. And the sHill is suddenly short on funds? Uh-uh....

Tja. Ash Wednesday, hey. You were expecting Herring salad, maybe? (I have done it---out of lurrv... that and eel.... just don't get me started, ok?)

Oh yes, the novel. 'City of Night' by John Rechy. I later read he got a professorship in English, but didn't give up selling himself. And don't we all, in one way or the other.....

Oooooh..... shiny, glittery, ....money!.....

Yup, just as I thought. Now who exactly are the backers, and who would she sell down the river? Inquiring minds would so like to know, hey... Just so it won't come as a surprise, you know... (The link is in the title.)

Punch and Judy, hey...

WTF???

Mrs. Clinton cried again today, or teared up, or was fucking nostalgic. This stuff makes me sick to my stomach. Who the fuck cares? Was it intended to get sympathy votes? Was it real? (I can't believe that, I see you as a ROBOT.) Do it once it is beleivable. Twice? Nah, and damaging in the end.

The lady is going to go down in flames at the polls.

How sickening....

Just when you think you are fucking indestructible...

Your body betrays you.

Isn't that a hoot....

Sometimes I do NOT 'get it' until it is too late.

So have been throwing up like some anorexic ballerina, as Jo would say. (I always LIKED that picture in my head, but do NOT like it in reality and if it is happening you you. Tja, fantasy and reality, Precsiousses. )

My heart is acting up.

To the point where it scares me, and there isn't much that scares me. (did you hear that, mr. K? Almost nothing fucking skeers me.)

Unlike what some fucked-up people think, I have always thought I was pragmatic. But I was never afraid of ANYTHING in my life. And stood up for whatever I did, and was never ashamed of any of it. I think I have been a decent person in my life.

Whatever, my heart races so horribly, it gets frightening. I get short of breath when I do something trivial for lifting stuff.

I should get my sorry old ass over to a hospital, but am stubborn. Have to see a doctor tomorrow anyway. And hey, whaddaya know? I KNOW that the cause is psychosomatic. But it has REAL consequences, I had a fucking psych major before I switched to German, so am not exactly stupid, but who would have thought, hey...

So... am off to bed again.... And Nah... my heart is just racing along as if it were a Porsche at Monza. Creeps me out.

Update. I slept most of the afternoon. Went to find something to eat at the supermarket.... We're having Mordor weather. The air stank so bad, I could hardly catch my breath. I hurried to try to get back home in time, but I didn't quite make it, am afraid.... Started to cough and then I did a not so graceful double Rittberger, (am rusty) and projectile vomited into the gutter for the edification of the people waiting at the bus stop who really did NOT need that, as if it were that horrible thing in that Monty Python movie. I don't know the english title. 'The Meaning of Life' or something like that.

And no, it is not the flu. Now I know why Truman Capote went off the charts when he got majorly dissed.

Just sayin'....

I guess Monza is over for the time being, and the Porsche won, or came in second at least. That is a nice thing.... But I think it needs a carbeurator change, or a new muffler. Because it sort of hurts over on the left side. Sort of behind the scenes dull pain.

And oh FUCK, I just needed that, right? (god, just in the bathroom again... how the fuck much can you have in your stomach, hey? Just watery stuff... gross.)

So am just majorly boring myself here. How FUCKING stupid of me. Will not, so NOT do another post on my 'Befindlichkeit'. Some people were out to hurt me and badly. And I am just going to have to deal with it. Somehow I have the sneaking feeling..... you aren't having any fun.

Insomnia, and wishing for a brain aneurism... and a recipe....

Up in the middle of the night, so I went floating about the blogosphere, to see what is going on.
Pretty much as I suspected. Everything in the US election campaign will degenerate from one of ideas to a Punch and Judy Show. How depressing....

Why on earth did John Edwards throw in the towel so EARLY?

Did he get threats? Inquiring minds want to know, hey. Huh.... And all that get left are the corporate-approved way-bought whores. Sad.

Whatever, am going to impart my recipe for Szegediner Goulasch, for all you Amis... Because I outdid myself yesterday, making it. According to Peter, who has often been the victim of my experiments.

So first: you get some very lean pork. I get to go to a butcher, and get it cut small, the way I want it. For four portions, you need a pound. And then you need about one and one half pounds of Sauerkraut. Not the packaged stuff, the real thing open in wooden buckets. Otherwise the mildest you can find. And a small onion. 'And a clove of garlic.

So you cut up the onion and garlic fine, braise it in one tablespoon of lard---yeah, I know, but it doesn't work without, and then you braise the meat lightly, and then you add the Sauerkraut. And add some water. NOT much, it is supposed to steam, hey. Keep the heat way low.
And then you add one teaspoon of paprika, and one of ground caraway. NOT MORE! It will look pale, but is just exactly right. Add a bay leaf. Cover, let simmer.

And then you can clean the house or watch a film for ninety minutes. Just check that the water hasn't evaporated.... and add if necessary....

When the Sauerkraut is soft, you add one little container of Creme Fraiche to it. And mix it well.

Works every time. And if there are leftovers.... it is absolutely better the next day.
But do it on a day when you can open a window... it kinda smells strongly at first.

On DVD. Death at a Funeral. Outrageous.

Was feeling really like puke on the sidewalk this morning, so I said to myself, 'nope, you aren't gonna GO there, no way, no how!'

So what to do? My pulse was really erratic, and some asshole once put out the meme that laughing is good, so I considered looking at 'State and Main' yet again. (I have my good colleague D. to thank for that. He saw it after a late night shift, and recommended it, knowing that Vermont is a neighbor state to NH.)

But nah, wanted something new. And so I went to the dvd store, and was undecided. Humour is so individual, and can get you into buckets of trouble, believe me.

Whatever, I ended up getting 'Death at a Funeral'. Except the German title is 'Dying for Beginners'. Yeah, am having this morbid streak. I only learned what the real title is in the extras.

It is a britsh production, so be forewarned. I haven't seen a film that made me laugh out loud in a long time. And then make you cry at the end. Not since 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. It takes place in near real-time, at a funeral about to be held in a mansion. And first they deliver the wrong corpse. Then the near and dear arriving. And then! It was so over the top hilarious, I actually laughed out loud, hard. And I really do not have anything to laugh about right now...

I do not wish to give away much of the plot. It is stuff you have seen before, sib rivalry, the crazy relatives, the anal retentive and the the opposite family members... But everything in the script got a twist, and it is fresh and surprising, and very very funny.

And just between us and the four walls...

That 'little person' blackmailing the main character pictured up above? I would do him. Yup. What a wonderful face and such personality shining out of those eyes. Now I am going to have to get 'The Station Agent', which I have heard much about. He is the most remarkable actor I have seen in a long time.

There wasn't any 'moment' in it, it was organic, and built up to hilarity. A perfect ensemble effort which ends up making a wonderful if rather odd film.

Just rent it, buy it, but watch. And beware. I have a very odd sense of humour.... just sayin'

Hilarious. It's a keeper.

I was just in the supermarket...

getting groceries... and this disembodied voice came on with the news, and said John Edwards had retired from the primary race.

We even haven't the year of the Rat yet, and that was IT?

He spoke to me from the heart to my heart. And got negated. I can SO identify....

And it wasn't because he was a white Southern man... He has sound ideas and made me hope like it was 1963.

So all you get is corporate whores. Have a lotta fun dealing with that one...

All I see for a a corrective is the grass roots becoming even more stronger and you are gonna haveta start from the bottom up. But... didn't your folks ever EVER teach you not to take candy from strangers?? Just askin'


Well, we shall see.

We had some wind here yesterday...

Like I've seldom seen here before. The howling woke me up, even. The radio warned everyone not to leave the house unless it was really necessary. But I went to work... It caused a lot of damage. And that new housing project and office building up the street that was nearly finished?

Whaddaya know.... Turns out that acrylic 'skin' wasn't any too sturdy.....

The architect didn't reckon with Mother Nature, hey. Am glad I live in an old building...



And that was one huge fir tree that got uprooted....

I thought the full moon was over. Age-ism Week

You KNOW you're getting older when....

Your spam in your e-mail box wants to sell you enemas instead of penile growth vaccums, or viagra.

Enemas, hey! Wow. Just.... wow. 'Remove colon weight, and toxic substances.' Uh-HUH.

Well, holy shit on a shingle, you should forgive the expression... Ain't that somethin.....

How kinky.... can you GET, hey????

Listen, I know how older Murikans get if they are travelling and aren't 'regular'. Have heard it first hand in fact.... but that really goes beyond the pale.

Colon weight and toxic substances In-deed, hey. I used to work with a woman who was fixated on that and always threatened us with an enema laced with red pepper and tobasco sauce if we didn't do what she wanted us to. And yes, THAT was kinky.... Although I had no inclination to take her up on the offer. (Yuck.)

(Why do I always run into crazy ladies in my professional life? Magnetism? Am a wimp? Whatever...)

So ok. Full moon. have to accept I am an oldie. Haven't needed viagra, and won't. But enemas for health reasons? Wow.

Not going there.

Hokay.... am 75 no Wonder I feel like I do....

And that is what I get for being curious.

Anyone out there love those scam mails, where you fill out a questionaire, and get some idiot answer and results? Well there was this spam mail, 'find out your RealAge.' And I thought, ok, look at it, and have some fun....

Let's face it, you just KNOW you are gonna get a lot of spam for health products afterward, and I will be busy putting it into the spam guard, but why not, for a change? As above, was curious. So I answered it all honestly, and everything. They keep giving you tallies after you finish a section. So I went from 58.2 'calendar years to 63 after the first, and then down to 61 after the second, but then came the 'lifestyle' section. Uuuuuuuhhh... All that smoking and stress and no exercise? (When did I EVER have time to do THAT, working twelve hour shifts for over nearly forty years, huh? I was always too TIRED to go to a gym. )

So my body is 75.

BETRAYAL, body....

No. I did NOT run to the mirror in the bathroom to look. I hate mirrors and generally avoid all reflecting surfaces.... and try to stay away from open windows on upper floors of any given building. (Thank you John Irving...you have often saved my life.)

So after all THAT shit, I officially proclaim this to be ageism week.

Like I needed that....

Just sayin...

Thank whomever if your thoughts are still young, and you are open to the world. (see 'Dinner in Raymond, NH' in the Munich section. I always wanted to be like Prof. Cappon. Not there yet, but getting close.... I hope. I always take courage from my heroes and the survivors.)

So.... enough navel gazing. Time to turn in. At least I can sleep well. Some people I know do not.

And yes, sometimes I distract myself with the trivial so that I do not have to look at the train-wreck of my life. I was SO not kidding when I said I ENVY Heath Ledger. And let's leave it at that. You do your time and the world is a cruel place, and the cards get stacked against you from the get-go. So you have to be smart. Or try to be. And then you stumble, and fall. So what? You get back up, dust yourself off, and you go on. Till you just can not do it any more. and you DROWN.

And that is all there is.

So according to this thing, my body is 75.

Shall we break out a magnum of champagne to celebrate? Round number, sounds like a cause for celebration. Uh-HUH....

Oh PLEASE, a Dom Perignon.

At least I tasted it--once. Right.

So not worth celebrating.

How superficial can you GET?

Ok, time to hit the Lake

For you folks Stateside. Call, fax, e-mail your senators. The FISA bill is up again, and they want to give retroactive immunity for the telecoms that allowed the government to spy on you. Don't let them do it if you value your freedom.

This has been a public service message, as Mr. Amato says... And oh yes, isn't it interesting that Harry Reid, and Hillary got lots and lots of money from the telecoms just to let them enable that? Fits right in there. More corporate tools. But nothing will come of it if you don't speak out!

Time to do so. Or don't whine about it afterward. Just sayin'...

Oh.... (Jan 22-23--Blogger is striking on dates..)

Heath Ledger was found dead at the ripe old age of 28 today. In New York. Overdose, seemingly.... At the moment, I envy him...

I've only seen him in two films, so cannot judge how good an actor he was.

Yes, 'Brokeback Mountain'. And '10 Things I Hate About You', but he was a kid back then.

(Just for the record, I am so not a fan of'Brokeback'. I didn't NEED another depressing gay film, but he was good in it. The hype was nauseating.*)

What struck me over there was the panting, breathlessness of all the reporting, the callousness. What bothers me is the jackal-like glee in reporting details that turn out to be wrong, just because the NY press is smelling blood, and running with it, and he isn't fact-checking.

Found dead in the Olson Twins' appartment indeed, hey.

Why not tell the world he was having a three way with Barbie and Ken, all plastic, no parts?

I despise the Press. Shoddy little frat people.

Fact is, a young man with problems just up and died.

Shouldn't that be enough??

*Update. My take on the movie looks harher than in reality. It is a solid, well-made film.

Was over at America Blog today, and there was a thread on this. And all these people of a certain generation, were going ON, as if he were some sort of saint or something, and gave them so much in their lives with that one film. How superfluous. What the hell lives are they leading? And how the younger generation often 'didn't understand' their fascination with it. Well, I for one, didn't NEED to see the self-repression, fear, and hostility yet again on the so-called silver screen. I lived through it, experienced it, and got my sorry ass out of there, and never looked back . Talk about projection much? Freud would have a field day. And if the young generation hasn't got all those problems, so much the better. And yes it was a film from a wonderful short story by a woman who is an artist. It moved me. But it didn't mean getting FIXATED on it. You move on, and you try to make things better by being an example---a good one.

And to my generation---well, we've been through much. Get over it. And do something positive to change it. Sometimes I think we have been crippled by all the people we lost. There is still a fight to win....

This stuff just leaves me speechless.

Just saying....

Update 2: Twenty four hours of feeding frenzy in the press, and the reprehensible John Gibson of Faux news makes FUN of his death. He was still being obducted, and this homophobic ASS decides to make fun of it. Must have been nice for Ledger's family. Even Joe (somewhat of an ass) Scarborough was speechless, well not so, but angry. I get speechless at the heartlessness of some Murkin's who would take that and make it into an 'agenda'. Impious, disgusting. A mess of people got on that show's case and went to their adverdisers, and am sure it wasn't just gay people.

So NOW, at 2 am.... they got a video up of Gibson doing an apology, haven't heard it yet, but am sure there is a disclaimer in it. If I believed in evolution, (right), I would say the guy is an instant throw-back to cave guy. Weirdest head in all television. And Mr. Clairol wants to make Fun of the Breck Guy? Gimme a BREAK, hey....

You could just barf for years. 'Wha' HAPPENED?'

Well, the election results are in...

Was a beautiful day, yesterday, yet still only 52,6% of those elegible made use of their voting right.
Results with tables are in the title link above. So more Christian Dem rule. *sigh* And hard to believe that the Freepers gained 3% after last weekend's scandal. But what do I know...

Even biological preconditions never stop you from getting older, you know

Genes betray you. Sometimes. And if you get close to pushing sixty, time to re-evaluate. Yesterday, I got confronted with reality---twice. So if you keep your head open, and interact with everyone around you, you half-way keep up with the times, and boy are they accelerating. And in my head, I am sort of thirtiesh.

So on Saturday, was minding my own business at the market, and this campaign worker for the election asks me do I want to take some balloons home with me for my grandchildren. (And I thought, 'WHA?') But I remained sort of civil. 'I don't even have children, Mister, let alone grandchildren....'

Later that evening I went out and got cigarettes and a hamburger from a little all night stand. Which is where I learned I wasn't just having a bad hair day. Lots of kids from the disco there, and this young african guy suddenly takes my shoulder and says, 'you go up front, old man.'

He was really only being polite, you know? So I said, 'Hey, just because my hair is grey doesn't mean my brain cells are. You just get your stuff.'

Getting old sucks. Now where is that barf bag again?

Just when you think you KNOW that a worst-case scenario

is about to turn your life up-side down, and you are steeling yourself for the shock that life is about to dish out and knock you metaphorically k.o. yet again, whaddaya know, some god-damned, heretofore docile Rottweiler smells it, and decides, (wtf???), to ATTACK out of left field.

And there you are on the virtual floor again, looking up at the ceiling, groggy, and trying to make sense of it. Only the ceiling is a fun-house mirror, and there is nothing you can recognise in it. Double bitch-slap and two super hard punches to the solar plexus comes close to describing it.... (I was ready for the other, more or less....) But only just close. The reality is worse, actually.... but what do I know, being 'cowardly and only superficial in my thoughts'? Uh-Huh...

(Which keeps bringing some stupid song from the Sixties or early Seventies going round and round in my head. 'They smile in your face--back-stabbers...' Only I forgot the rest of the lyrics.)

Let's face it, I'm getting old, whether I want to or not. Less resiliant, thin-skinned, but at least still objective... And after all the turbulence of the past year, I am only functioning at one third of what I used to be able to do. It has taken all my inner reserves to get through it without a trip to the Sigmund Freud clinic, and yeah, that is exactly what you think it is... Just when you are at your most vulnerable, hey, they attack.

That has been my 'wonderful' week.

So you are all gonna haveta excuse me while I call for someone with a virtual spatula to scrape me off the virtual floor, and I get my balance back. I'll probably be back in a few days.

And that will be the end of this topic. There are some things I do not write about, because it would be taken wrong, and damaging. So? That's all he wrote, hey. Go read something uplifting, meanwhile, okay? James Wolcott is always fun...

I wanted to 'adorn' this with a photo of dog-shit on the sidewalk, but they are seemingly scooping the poop of late. Or a good one of puke on the sidewalk, but there wasn't a high school prom across the way the past couple of days. Or a used snotty Kleenex about to be flushed down the toilet, but I ran out of Kleenex. And used toilet paper would have been just too crass, if fitting.

Because that is how I feel. Aren't you lucky I didn't get lucky....

(/end topic)

Basket cases. Yup, everywhere you look, hey...

They have a saying for it in German, even. 'The fools are running the insane asylum.' Yup, that pretty much sums it up, hey.

So Hillary and Obama's people discover, probably through polls, that the majority of voters do not LIKE the racist meme, and according to an AP headline, are gonna back off. How nice.

They should just be so fucking proud of themseleves. Yup. All that stuff was mean, and ineffectual, so they just decide to drop it because it is not going to advance their agendas. How big-hearted, and 'liberal'.

And we too, have a local election next Sunday, a pitiful, meaningless one. But we got us our own little coven of witches and bastard sorcerors. Oh yes. They had their coven meeting just outside of town this past Sunday. I really, really wanted to go, just to check this species out in their natural habitat, but I had to work. This time it was like the time I missed going to Woodstock.... kind of.

Ok, not that big.

And I would probably have gotten my face re-arranged in a not very attractive way... For not keeping my mouf shut, ya know? I really do a re-buff on the street, when they do their thing, and that is sometimes dangerous in itself. Idjit bullies....

Seemingly it was a Volksfest, fun for all the attendees. Three thousand little rabid fascists in a tent, hey. For a town of 250,000, ---less than one per cent? And then the Freeper Candidate got up to speak. I am SO sorry I missed it. The Chancellor has called for an investigation to charge her with 'Volksverhetzung', stirring people up to be violent against another group they do not like.

Seemingly, one of her statements was stating that we have a tsunami wave of Muslims who are gonna take away all we hold dear and press their way of life on us, jawohl! Uh-HUH. And the one that got her into really hot water was maintaining Mohammed was a child molester, and when he was middle-aged, he had his last wife who was six years old. Implying all Muslims are child molesters.

Sigh...

How fucking perverted can you GET in your greed, hey? That is what got her an investigation going.

Rightly so.

Does anything pass through her BRAIN before it comes out of her esophagus after passing through her aciduous somach? ? And you guys get all wimped out over implied racist statements? Ok, I did too... But what is going on here? I thought we lost that crap long ago...

And by the way... I go out my door daily, and there are a lot of people of Muslim faith out there. I only recognise the ones who dress accordingly. I do not bother them, they do NOT bother me. And that is how it should be. I can even interact with some of them, and they are nice people.

SO WHERE THE HELL IS THE PROBLEM?

Everyone went fucking crazy. For damned politics. Basket cases.

Just sayin'

NEVER answer the phone out of a deep sleep....

and wtf did I just DOOO? ???

Had five days of getting up at four a.m., running to work, nothing happening, so hard to get through the day, mostly got yelled at, but that is something I do not go into on this blog.


Deep breath.... from the top. I was tired, we have Mordor weather, it doesn't get light. I was just depressed and exhausted, so I went to bed at noon. And then the bloody phone rang. Long. I thought Peter had fallen down again or something.

I had this unreal older woman voice out of Munich. When I hear that diction and sort of voice, I listen up. She identified herself with a teevee company out of Munich. And did I want to come and take part in a quiz show, because now they add Austrians to the mix. Normally, I would have asked how they got my number, and all. But as above, was just out of a deep sleep.

Did I know the show? No. I work evenings. It is like 'Who wants to be a Millionaire', except the candidates don't answer, you have to pick a prominent person on the jury to give the answer. (jury-rigged, alarm bell here...)

And would I like to be in the series beginning in June, and the wins, and big sums of money, and five THOUSAND Euros just to go to Munich, expenses paid, and THAT my Preciousess is the glitter that made me lose all comprehension.

('Me... in a quiz show, I could WIN something... oh.... I could win big and fly Annti here to visit.' Just flashed before my eyes, still with the sandman sand in them.... Or I would have told her to go where the pepper grows, but she painted pretty pictures in my head.)

And before I knew it, I was signed up. And then came the scam. I get three chits. To play, their so-called Klassenlotterie. If I win, it is mine. Fat chance. Those chits go into another lottery and that decides if you get to go on the show. Otherwise I have to pay for one month playing their lottery, and it costs about fifty dollars, so she just robbed me of what I didn't want to give. And you can believe me... no WAY I'm ever gonna get on a teevee show. Got robbed per call center.

I do not know if you have ever seen the brilliant film, 'They Shoot Horses, Don't They?' If you have, that is how I felt. If you haven't, rent it if available. But on a good day, not if you are depressed.

Just sayin' And sometimes.... just don't answer the phone.

Btw... the picture is of dishevilled Austrians (straw dummies) beneath a Coca Cola sign. I think it fits..... It is in front of a mom and pop store. The rest of the street is one Döner shop after the other, and I don't know how she survives.

Racist?

This morning's crop of videos from Crooks and Liars seems to have a disproportionately high number of discussions regarding New Hampshirites being racist, and that being why the pollers were wrong, and why Obama didn't get the lead they predicted.

As a former New Hampshirite, I really found that offensive. Highly offensive, as a matter of fact. The people I know and knew there are not much different from anyone anywhere else, in my experience. Some of them have their predjudices, and some of them harbour sort of odd opinions, mostly because they never have any experience with people who have a different color skin than they do. So they do not know. And most of them are good people, I found.

But I really doubt that racism was a factor in the election outcome. I do think, as Atrios at Eschaton does, that the media caused a typical backlash among the voters, because of how they treat Hillary.

"I don't know if reaction to the media treatment of Clinton had anything to do with voter choices yesterday, but I certainly know people in real life who a) don't want Clinton to win and b) are tempted to vote for her every time they're exposed to the way she's treated by the deeply broken monsters in our mainstream media."

So they should just stop with the 'racist' shit. I'm fairly sure we've gotten beyond that idiocy, not perfectly, but not the way they are framing it, at least....

Update: the discourse got even worse in the past 48 hours. Cuomo coming up with that 'shuck and jive' remark. I'd never heard that term before, having been around so many 'racists', you know, but you would think that if I grew up with them, I would have heard it at least once somewhere.... So were they backwards and ill-informed, to boot? If you click on Pam Spaulding in the blogroll, she explains why it is so fully negative. I expected something like this toward the end of the election cycle, not now...

If I had a tin-foil hat, I would put it on, and come up with the idea that the corporate world WANTS Clinton to get the nomination, just so they can tear her apart and put in yet another Repuglican, and continue to rape the world. Stranger things have happened.... And now there is to be a recount, as the hand-counted ones show an advantage for Obama, and the Diebold ones are the exact opposite to Clinton's advantage. Something about that really smells fishy, as we used to say. Since both of them are being funded by big corporate interests, what the fuck is going ON here? It wouldn't bother me one way or the other if it didn't affect the rest of the world. But this is crass. Just sayin'.

The Producers...

Was the first Mel Brooks film I ever saw, in 1968. I was totally unaware of what was about to happen and be unleashed on an unsuspecting world. It was an assault on everything and anything considered politically correct. It starred the never-to-be-replaced Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, in what I believe was his first role in any movie. He was so neurotic, he was a joy to watch. It was about a would-be, hoped-to-be producer who is an accountant, and has to check a nefarious dastard of a producer, who takes him under his wing. And they get up this plan to make a flop. So they get the worst, absolutely worst musical script from a Nazi, and hire the worst director on the face of the earth, the worst actors, and then sell 100 percent of the supposed gains to all of the backers. It ended with a song and dance number, Springtime For Hitler'. I was fucking shocked, being only eighteen years old. Because it made me laugh, and feel guilty about laughing over it. It really stuck in my throat. Brilliant. It became a cult film later and wasn't a hit.

Sometime in the early 80's there was this art house cinema here, and they did a series of Brooks retrospectives. I dragged Peter to see it. The end of it? He FREAKED. 'You can't DO that!' And I said, 'Well, he is entitled, I think.'

I think it was his next film, the chaotic 'Blazing Saddles' that rocketed Brooks into everyones's hearts. It is the silliest movie ever made. I love it.

A few years ago, he made The Producers into a musical. Seats 100 dollars and up, and it was a smash hit. And now it is a film. With Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the original roles, and the lovely Uma Thurman. It is even more tasteless, but funny. (Ok, I admit it, I like tasteless funny, and it is a very fine line to walk.) He added a number with old women as backers doing a dance number with walkers, you know the frame things? Tap dancing with them? Only Mel Brooks would come up with something that tasteless--and hilarious.

I waited a long time to get this one, because I had a barf taste in my mouth as far as what I had seen of Nathan Lane so far. Which was only 'The Birdcage'. He was bad. Take my word for it. He was horrible. If anyone has seen the incomparable late Michel Serreault in the original French version, BRILLIANT, they will understand what I mean. And THAT man could do ANYTHING. So I was sceptical.

He was more than a worthy follower of Zero Mostel in this. My mouth was AGAPE, hey. That good. Matthew Broderick did ok with the security blanket thing, but he's no Gene Wilder. Will Ferrell was very funny. And the finale gets topped with the incredible number 'Heil me!' (Which is a double entendre, can mean 'cure' me.) I went into pure shock. It was so daring, on the one hand. But, in the end, I think it is all to the good to take one of the worst people in history and make them laughable. As above, it is a very fine line to walk, but in this cased it worked both times. Recommend it highly.

I mentioned my nice colleague and how I lend her my dvds when I get a musical? Well, I wasn't sure this time. The finale is on You Tube now. So I called it up, had explained what it is about, and said, 'Ummmm are you SURE you want to borrow this one? It is sort of crazy.'

She was fucking SHOCKED, I tell you, SHOCKED: 'How can anyone make FUN of Hitler?' And I just said, 'Well, he is entitled...'

So she is going to borrow it. But her daughters do NOT get to see it.

Fascinating, that forty years later, it still shocks people.

Yes, it is crass. It is sophmoric. But it is also brilliant.

And I still like the original. It was a masterpiece.

Springtime for Hitler, in-deed. Gawd.

The missing party candidate

The Greens are nearly invisible in the thicket of the other posters and billboards. Either they are short on funds, or just wanting to remain in the opposition, can't tell. Latest polls on Sunday said the Socialists are standing still, the Christian Dems are gonna win, and the Greens and Freepers are going to make gains, and the Communists are going to go down the tubes. We shall see.

And yes, most of them look as tight-lipped as her.

Today is important for you NH people...

So go out there and vote. I will not bloviate about what I think. Doesn't matter, does it? YOU are in the decision making process big time. So get your asses out there and put your X's where you think it will be best for you. It is your country. Time to take it back. Vote.

Oh yes, it is my brother's birthday. I'd wish him a happy happy, but life doesn't work that way. I make him 'uncomfortable' for being who I am. Well, he missed out on a lot of fun along the way... His problem. And sad.

See that ice? Make it thaw. Go vote.

PS: sorry about the poor photo. Grass roots and ice on the brook. I have to learn to use the macro on my camera better . But I thought it was fitting.

....And woke up to a real shock. Sitemeter tells me that the incomparable TRex was in my efficiency appartment, while I was sleeping. That is like having the Dalai Lama hovering over your bed in levitation, or something. You would think that a 40 foot therapod would wake you up, but I slept well. And am still saving up for his dowry, so that I can swoop over to GA, carry him off and marry him in Massachusetts. Seeing as I'll be about 105 years old by that time, as 40 foot therapods are high maintainence, I had better join a gym. Yup. So much for fantasies.

But you guys don't have to fantasize today. Use your voice, and make it LOUD. Just sayin'.

A Nine Yr. Old Live-blogs the Republican Debate

over at Daily Kos. Meet Bunny Ears, Beagle Eyes, and Oily..... Indeed!
Heh..

BRAVOS to the good folks in Nashua, NH!

for showing Faux News guy Bill O'Reilly a less than warm welcome, and some one-fingered salutes. Lots more at Crooks and Liars. (in the blogroll in the side-bar.)

We had the dubious privilege of receiving that channel on our sat system for three long months after Sept. 2001. I was so shocked at the content, I couldn't watch more than ten minutes at a time before wanting to kill my teevee. Hannity drove me up the wall, Colmes was a wimp, they were all whiny, then full of false bravado, to barf. But Bill O? They do not come any more fatuous, pompous or more hate-mongering. Can't wait to see Keith Olberman go at him with his Snoopy Schadenfreude dance. Am sure he will...

Update: The King of Snark,TRex, rubs his therapod claws in glee here.
His twin brother PatRex has some unsettling thoughts in the comments.

Bravo, Nashuans! And if any of you in NH know someone from there, give them a congratulatory hug. In this case, bad manners should definitely be rewarded!

Ten years and no thaw.....

When I shot this photo, I did not think it would be a metaphor. But it is. Someone left the fountain on purposely, and made a free-form ice sculptcha'. Yup

Sums it up, oh yes. Not to worry. This is about local stuff. Oh, yeah... It represents what the Democratic Party is there and the Socialist party is here.

And I am NOT bitching. Just clueless.

The first time I came to Europe, I was a lowly student who hadn't an inkling of what was beyond our borders. It was 1972. I had the 'good' luck to work in the Olympic Village in Munich, working in the cafeteria where the athletes ate. THAT was fairly AWESOME.... 14oo students from all over the world. I would have given my left nut for that experience... and it just sort of fell into my lap, hey.

Well, I had hardly been there a week, and this German JUSO (young Socialist) comes running down the hall and grabs me. 'We have to DO something! We need a delegation!'

What got their panties in a twist? The cafeteria didn't have freezers or coolers and were throwing away the best foods you can think of into the garbage every day. Prime beef steaks, everything. And every night they would deliver everything fresh again. Wahnsinn! Crazy!

The Jusos were going from floor to floor to find delegates to help stop the wastage. They wanted to go to the management, point out this waste, and threaten to strike on opening day, and threatren them with a report to the }}}}Bild ZEITUNG{{{{. That is just one step up from the National Enquirer in tone, and everybody read it. And being 23 years old, I said, YES, let's DO this. The thought did cross my mind that I would get expelled, and have to go back to that horrible city I grew up in, but he got me fired up, and ENRAGED.

So I said, 'yes, let's DO this!' All ten of us get into the managers' office, and the 'firebrand ' punks me. He probably thought it would be better coming from a 'ferner'. I don't know. My German was fairly fluent. But only fairly. And all of a sudden, I am the 'speaker' for this group. I was polite, but firm. 'You can't really believe that you can just throw things away, when there are people in need, or that some people in old-aged homes (!) would be thankful if you would have it sent to them instead of throwing into the GARBAGE....

At that moment, I was terrified. Inside. Outwardly, I was firm. I thought Socialists were Communists or something... And deep within me, I was seething about how unjust it was. And I thought, 'If I have to go back to my Mill town and look at bricks all my life, this is so WORTH it.' So I grabbed my courage in my hand and let loose.

And I felt I was doing the right thing.

And then I DELIVERED the ultimatum. Sometimes, back then, I used to have a courage I didn't even know I had... Young and reckless, hey, if not in the sense of being part of a motorcycle gang...

As soon as I mentioned 'strike on opening day', and Bild Zeitung, they went pale. Obviously I did NOT get fired. And the next day, all these social services people drove up to the back ramp and loaded the good stuff to be taken to old age homes, and so on. And I thought, HOLY fucking SHIT, we have some powerful stuff going on here...

And that is how I became a Socialist in mentality. Never was a card-carrying member. We were doing something constructrive, it wasn't for personal gain, and we put our jobs on the line, and won.

It was heady, it was wonderful, and it was real, you could see that you made a difference. For the good, nothing selfish...

Zoom ahead thirty years. Complacency? Check. A social ice age? Check. Greedy assholes who even rob your strike funds? For a shady deal with an american bank that was so nefarious, even I could hardly beleive it, and have seen some egregrious things in my day. WHAT the FUCK??? CHECK. Wha' HAPPENED, hey???

In the past fifteen or so years, the people who made that party WHAT IT WAS, died. And the people who took it over? Bankers. And they ruined whatever I admired and worked for over many years. The whole fucking world 'changed'. Dashed hopes and whatever.

So what does this have to do with the Democratic Party, you ask? It also is like that fountain in the picture.... Stasis. Got frozen. Except it seems you guys are experiencing a little bit of a thaw. People are going out and getting active there, and they do not want to take what is being crammed down their throats any more. And that is all to the good.

Their programmes have always been a bit to the left, but it is always lip service, for the most part.

Sorry, but am sort of bilious at the moment.

So when the Fuck does my thaw come?

I cannot see it yet..

Am going to vote Communist, I swear....

Local candidates.....

Who would you vote for? Who turns you off? These are the five local candidates for mayor and the city council elections coming up in a few weeks....



Communist Party candidate. 'Helping instead of Talking ' is the slogan. To her credit, she is the only candidate I see all year round near the market on some Saturdays, listening to people's problems and trying to find solutions for them. She has honest eyes and seems to listen well.



Socialist Party candidate. He wants more for Graz. His campaign began with no photo, and that he wanted more social justice, and fairness. Now he wants more for people, and the city. Uh-HUH.



















An even more extreme right wing splinter party of our local Freepers. Wants to 'clean up' the city. NOW or Never. Right. Ethnic cleansing, anyone?









This is the current mayor. Christian Democratic Party. Wants to give families with children more benefits, among other things.... He thinks Graz is 'fun'. Someone thought Graz might be 'fun'. The graffito reads 'without you'. And he still owes the GLBT community an apology from his first days in office, so I doubt he'll ever offer one now, insulting prig....



And this is the most defaced poster in all the town, which is plastered with these faces at the moment. Freeper Party, have the exact same platform and talking points as their US counterparts. 'So that Graz remains 'Homeland'. I liked the one where she sports a Hitler moustache, which some prankster gave her with a black Magic Marker but they replace them too quickly. She must have flipped out, because the replacements had stickers on them with the one-liner 'we respect you.' Uh-HUH....

Why do I get a headache trying to decide??????

Oh yeah, Happy New Year. Now where did I stash that bottle of aspirin??????