Author Archives: gonzo66

“American Pie”, Don McLean (1971)

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donmcclean“American Pie”, Don McLean (1971)

Arguably one of the most important albums in (sort of) Rock Music history, for at least two reasons:

First reason- it contains spectacularly beautiful lyrics and melody not seen very often in contemporary music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk&spfreload=10

Individuals standing on stage, singing a melody and accompanying themselves with a simple instrument exhibit the most beautiful music, even in the rock genre. Solo artists (James Taylor), duos (Simon and Garfunkel), triplets (Peter Paul and Mary) and simple groups (Cream). Staged pyrotechnics diminish simple listenability and are currently in the process of destroying Rock as an art form.

Don McLean (and James Taylor) emerged as simple but effective troubadours. They understood this was karma and kismet and they would never stray from it. At some point in his career McLean graduated from college and was offered a full scholarship for graduate work to Columbia University in New York that he turned down. He knew what his future was and that it would be successful. He would not rise to his level of incompetence a-la the Peter Principle, and he has been exceptionally successful, continuing to do concerts now at my age.

Second reason- on March 14,1971, the album “American Pie” emerged as a new anthem from the ashes of 60s culture effectively demolished at the Altamont rock concert on December 6, 1969.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQzNtYsf5D4&spfreload=10

The 60’s and its anthem, “Alice’s Restaurant” (Arlo Guthrie, 1967) signaled the emergence of a radical change from the staid, prosperous Eisenhower 50s. The strains of “Are you experienced” from Jimi Hendrix and “When the music’s over” from the Doors wafted through the dorm halls leading to stunned silence. No one had ever heard anything like it before. It was electrifying and it led like the auditory pied piper to the culture that created it. An entire generation wafted into a radical social change that changed our lives and changed the world.

60s social upheaval was irrevocably intertwined with the music of the day. The medium of Rock has always been one of rebellion against conformity and conventionality, and accordingly fit like a hand in a glove with the 60s. Sixties Rock is the stuff of existential anti-heroism, inviting those seeking salvation by immersing their souls in a cathartic media masquerading as social profundity.  The high risk-high gain medium selects for those who actively live the dream. The musicality selects strains and chords evolved to selectively pull resonant strings of the human brain, abandoning order.

Those selected for this cast were drawn in at their peril, with no safety net. Perhaps prior lessons from the existential philosophers, most of who went mad or suffered violent deaths, should have been heeded. Some very talented people discovered those consequences the hard way. Altamont was the final blushing crow pointing out very vividly that when the surface of “self enlightenment” was scratched, what lay underneath was madness and violence.

“American Pie” was an allegorical narrative of what lay beyond Altamont, exploiting the unfortunate plane crash of Feb 3, 1959 that took the lives of the prophetic Buddy Holly and two other minor players. Markers of what was to come in popular music and the culture accompanying it. When they died, a potential culture died with them.

Buddy Holly’s star was rising as the new exponent of what would come to be called “pop rock”, melodic and listenable. His works and innovations inspired and influenced contemporary and later musicians, notably The Beatles, Elvis Costello, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, Bob Dylan, Steve Winwood, and Eric Clapton. Holly was among the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among “The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty31QY5ZGHo

Parenthetically, Dion DiMucci of Dion and the Belmonts decided not to pay the US$36.00 fee and didn’t board the aircraft said to have “American Pie” painted on its cowl. J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), suffering from flu symptoms, coerced Waylon Jennings into giving up his seat. Ritchie Valens beat out guitarist Tommy Allsup on the toss of a coin. These decisions haunted these artists for the rest of their lives.

McLean explored some cryptic predictions:

“I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I’d heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn’t play

And in the streets, the children screamed
The lovers cried and the poets dreamed
But not a word was spoken
The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most
The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost
They caught the last train for the coast
The day the music died”

The literal interpretation of McLean’s lyrics have been a source of continuing controversy for many years. Books have been written about them. When asked what his song meant, McLean famously replied, “It means I’ll never have to work again.” But be that as it may, the album marked the sharp transition to a radically different culture, the 70s.

Although difficult to imagine for many of you, the years 1970-71 were a straight up revolution, exacerbated by the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King in 1968 and nurtured by the violent Democratic National Convention also of 1968. An age of violent protest. Nixon Agonistes, the Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Faction, Kent State, Vietnam Veterans Against the War (it’s head- John Kerry), Angela Davis and Black Power.

Much but not all of it related to an intensely polarizing President and the unpopular Vietnam conflict that remained in full swing. Virtually every city in the country brimmed with firebombs, looting and the crackle of small arms fire. Business owners sat in shifts with shotguns propped on their toes outside their storefronts nightly.

But I digress. Anyone more interested in the sociopolitical revolutions of the 60s and 70s in more detail should (shameless plug) check out my treatise on it:

http://www.amazon.com/60s-70s-Confessions-Attentive-Observer/dp/1320874401/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1430056783&sr=8-13&keywords=david+crippen

I have gone over the lyrics to American Pie for years and I think I understand a lot of it because I was there for all of it. It’s a very interesting song on its own merits anyway. Check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsV5-Hv-7U&spfreload=10

Review: “House of Cards” (Netflix)

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UnknownNetwork television is famous for programming constructs appealing to the dumb and dumber. Irritating canned laugh tracks. Insipid plots guaranteed to offend no potential sponsors. Dumbed down dialog. Getting marginally better with Blacklist (NBC) and Blue Bloods (CBS) but the most talented writers and directors flock to more liberal cable channels in droves, closely followed by discerning viewers.

The “cable” experiment succeeded beyond the wildest expectations with amazing classics such as “Deadwood”, “Justified”, “Mad Men”, “Breaking Bad”, “Flashpoint”, “The Closer”, “The Wire”, The Shield”, “Hatfields & McCoys” and others. Well written, well performed, frequently with actors no one ever saw before.

Having tasted blood, Cable TV is maneuvering to lead a discriminating audience toward really good performance art. Recently: “A Killing”, “The Honorable Woman”, “Sons of Anarchy” and others. They are doing this by giving virtually total artistic freedom (and responsibility) to individual writers/directors who have no interest in beholding to sponsors or network suits. Nowhere was this more apparent than in “Deadwood”, arguably one of the most incredible series in the history of small screen film, lasting only there seasons.

Some of the names you’ll hear frequently are Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad” and Better Call Saul), David Milch (Deadwood), Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy), Graham Yost (Justified), Shawn Ryan (The Shield), David Simon (The Wire) and many more. So if you like good performance art on the small screen, sniff around and see what’s out there on cable.

Then as spin off from these creative series, streaming resource “Netflix”, teetering on the brink of bankruptcy at the time, took a staggering winner-takes-all risk by creating 13 episodes of a new series: “House of Cards” starring bankable actors Kevin Spacy and Robin Wright. “House of Cards” was an astonishing risk. Netflix literally pushed the few chips they had to the center of the table and bet the farm on a hastily accumulated political drama with no precedent. A new concept of viewing, the entire season out in one big chunk for series gluttons. They succeeded beyond their expectations.

In Seasons 1and II, Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) schemes his way through convoluted shenanigans as the (very) Southern Democratic Senate majority whip out to get revenge on a new administration that promised him a cabinet position, then reneges. His reptilian wife Claire (Robin Wright) aids and abets from a uniquely predatory, lupine female perspective. House of Cards portrays the protocol of political power differently than “The West Wing”. The Byzantine plots are a much more complex chess game in which progress is planned five moves ahead and the baroque parliamentary gerrymandering is fierce to the point of brutality.

Underwood and his wife share a spooky relationship in which much of their communication is unspoken, but between the two of them, they relentlessly decide the fates of others with Machiavellian cunning. Their interaction with victims is meticulously crafted to gently facilitate their self-destruction. Those investigative journalists ferreting out the couple’s guilt fall into artful traps that brutally assure their own destruction. The result is a masterpiece of intrigue with a minimum of suspense. The viewer always knows where the path leads, and the series takes its time getting there, wringing out the intricate details along the way.

Kevin Spacey pauses along the way to step out of character and wink at the camera, offering up snarky quips: “I love that woman. I love her more than sharks love blood”. However, in Season III, the dynamics of this relationship fall into a convoluted maelstrom leading to one of the most stunning cliffhangers in TV film.

“House of Cards is an unexpectedly brilliant masterpiece that probably single handedly pulled Netflix out of receivership. Spacey’s delivery of menacing charisma is the freshest character on TV. Wife Clare’s emotional link marinated with ruthlessness augment the series’ magnetism. The other characters are perfectly placed.

I give it 5 of 5 Frank Underwood sneers (yes….FIVE). Highly recommended on Netflix. As good as it gets.

Book review: “Lawrence in Arabia”

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UnknownLawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the making of the Modern Middle East” (Scott Anderson)

Remarkably different than a previous book on T.E. Lawrence, “Hero:t he life and legend of Lawrence of Arabia” by Michael Korda, which is also excellent but focuses on it’s main character. “Lawrence in Arabia” broad strokes all the factors that formed the modern Middle East from the fracturing of the Ottoman Empire and brings the main character into it as a part of the whole that he played.

The book is absolutely fascinating and well written. Some interesting facts that emerge:

1. The enormity of WW I is not fully appreciated today if for no other reason than the participants who would remember it are mostly dead and the incredible stupidity of the whole affair (which was thought by Great Britain would be over in a few weeks) has been largely covered up. In the previous 40 years before 1914, Great Britain had been involved in 40 war skirmishes and lost less than 40,000 men. In the Somme Offensive in France, 1916, 58,000 Allied soldiers were dead in one day’s fighting, the bloodiest single day of warfare in the history of the English speaking world. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, France suffered an estimated 270,000 battlefield casualties. France surpassed that number in the first three weeks of WW I. In a two year span, the life expectancy of a French male dropped to 27. Roughly ten million soldiers and 6 million civilians died in WW I, mostly as a result of incredibly stupid battle tactics designed to kill huge masses resulting in stalemate. All this for what amounted to an extended royal family feud acting out old grievances. The sheer incompetence of strategy and tactics was exceeded only by their callousness toward those dying for them. The two survivors, Britain and France would be so shattered as to never fully recover.

2. Between April 1915 and January 1916, the Battle of Gallipoli was pursued with the aim of eventually capturing Constantinople (Istanbul). Britain and France launched an amphibious naval attack on the peninsula, a sea route that was then property of the Russian Empire that would, if unimpeded lead to Constantinople. War strategists now say that landing at Gallipoli’s southern tip defied any semblance of effective military strategy or common sense. The landing would be vulnerable to attack from higher ground, and it would be necessary to build and maintain the same trench lines that paralyzed the Western front. Of the 3000 miles of coastline, Gallipoli is now said to be the worst possible choice.

But on April 25, 1915, a troop carrier, the SS River Clyde out of Liverpool steamed into a small beach code named V-Beach and launched six small unarmed and motorless wooden boats filled with soldiers. The Turks were waiting, having noticed the approach of the non-camouflaged ship earlier. When the boats were just yards from the shore, but still in deep water, Turk machine gunners opened up at close range. One after another of the boats were cut up, soldiers to die instantly of wounds, or capsized, dumping the heavily clad soldiers into the water to drown. Of the first 200 men in the first wave of boats, only 11 reached the shore to be effectively picked off. By mid-afternoon, there were so many dead men on the gangways that early casualties actually died of suffocation from the heaps of dead bodies on top of them. By the end of the first day, the advance landing forces at Gallipoli suffered four thousand casualties. The first day’s objective was to secure a small village four miles inland. Over the next seven months, the British would never reach the village and would suffer a quarter million casualties trying.

On the same day the British invaded Gallipoli, the Constantinople government started rounding up Armenian intellectuals and business leaders suspected of being spies; the beginning of a “cleansing operation” for the Ottoman Empire’s Christian minority, a genocide that would eventually result in the deaths of a million Middle Eastern Christians. Outside train windows were revealed a never ending horror show of starving (mostly) women and children being herded along to camps at bayonet point.

The corruption, incompetence and arrogance of ALL these players were not lost on Lawrence, who had emerged into a position of trust in British intelligence. The author inexorably paints these scenes as a backdrop to the nurturing and eventual emergence of T.E. Lawrence into a strategist and tactician facilitating the Arabs to secure and maintain most of the Arabic peninsula as a socio-political state. This was, of course, destined to fail pretty much as described in “Lawrence of Arabia” (1960). The British and French used Lawrence to help them fracture the Ottoman Empire, somewhat successfully, at least in a small scale. But unknown to Lawrence there emerged The Sykes–Picot Agreement, which even as Lawrence toiled furiously, divided the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire outside the Arabian peninsula into areas of future British and French control or influence.

The book is extremely elucidative of this history that created what we now know as the modern Middle East, and in the case of the Sykes-Picot Agreement in particular. “It’s hard to think of any figure who, with no true malice intended and neither a nation nor an army at his disposal, was to wreak more havoc on the twentieth century than the brilliant and personable aristocrat from Yorkshire (Sykes), havoc that a small group of his countrymen, including T.E. Lawrence, would try very hard to set right.”.

“Lawrence in Arabia is a fascinating story of the birth of nations and the role of the small, quiet man that played a huge part in it.

I get a new car (Feb 20, 2015)

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RAV IISometimes life changes suddenly. Last week, my middle daughter swerved to avoid hitting a deer in the middle of the night and trashes her car into a bridge abutment. Car totaled, all airbags deployed but she walks away without injury.
So that car, a 2010 Hyundai was paid for and was what’s commonly referred to as a disposable car. Insurance elected to just offer nominal cash settlement to my wife (whose name it was registered in).
As it turns out, my wife decided that she didn’t want to purchase another car for the kid who is in graduate school at Pitt and has no funds but needs a car. So she announced that she would be bequeathing her own car, a five year old Toyota Prius, to the kid and she would be taking over my car, a 2013 Fiat Abarth and I should go out and buy another car.
Unclear how she will do with the Abarth over the long haul. When queried if she really liked the car, her solemn opine was: “well…it’s a little overpowered for its size”. Ha. She has no idea. She’s never seen the look of abject terror in a passenger at 18 pounds of turbo boost flat out in third gear. But no matter, it’s hers now to do with as she pleases.
All things considered, this was a reasonable plan under the circumstances, so I started sniffing around looking for a new ride.
There were some things I really wanted at my stage in the game:
* All wheel drive- I’m tired of plodding snow in Pittsburgh.
* Built in GPS and back up camera. Traffic advisories.
* The new technology of blind spot warning, lane change alert and cross traffic alert.
* High-end audio
* Hands free Bluetooth phone
* Ability to pull a motorcycle trailer
I knew that all the high-end cars, Mercedes, Audi and BMW had all this stuff and I started looking around on Auto Trader and several other Internet sites, to find out that all these cars, similarly equipped were very expensive. VERY expensive and I wondered if I really wanted to pay US$60,000 for a car.
After a discussion with an independent mechanic I have dealt with for years, I decided to look at lower Echelon cars similarly equipped.
So, I found that Toyota makes a “smaller” version of an SUV that has everything I wanted for half the price of the high-end cars. I didn’t really want an SUV but I need something that will pull a trailer with a bike on it, so this was my best option. I found one at a local Toyota dealership that had relatively good reviews and went down there to check it out.
I haven’t bought a car in a while but I hate the process. You get pumped into a high-pressure pipeline that’s been refined for years to insure the seller always has the upper hand.
First of all, the myth that I can walk in there and negotiate a better deal on a price is not viable. They know all the moves well in advance and they can adapt to ANY situation to insure they always win. Any car that I might want is in high demand and there are no discounts. Of course, I’m a lousy barterer anyway, so the price is what it is.
This Toyota RAV4 has every option known to man and some that are just plain silly. But it does have the basics I want and the price is half that of the high-end models. I could find no real differences other than the brand name.
Does not have a huge engine (that I don’t need) and gets reasonable gas mileage for its size. 22-MPG n town and 28 or so on the road, so they say. Much better than a Jeep and it will tow a trailer. The seat is actually quite comfortable and is long enough for full support.
So my car sales person was a very nice kid right out of high school that had been shaving for about two weeks. He knew the basics of the car and I knew all of it going in. So his jobs were to get me to say I wanted the car and do the preliminary paperwork, but he was not selling me the car. His role was to start the process that quickly evolved to the “closer”, the guy that figures me out and decides if I’m really a serious buyer.
By the time I get to him, he knows everything about me including my credit score and all about my career. All that’s available on-line, you know. So he then clears me to do more paperwork and then sends me to the finance officer whose job it is to set up my financing and get me to purchase lots of expensive extra options that every financial advisor everywhere say are not good buys.
I decided to lease this car for several reasons. Normally leases are considered bad deals by most financial advisors, but I rarely keep a car longer than three years, I do low mileage and take care of cars. I really didn’t want to put up a big cash deposit on this car right now and I’m happy to unload it in three years to find what new technology has emerged. The down payment was reasonable as was the monthly payment.
The new technology of blind spot warning, lane change alert and cross traffic alert are VERY interesting and I think significant advances in safety. I like the back up camera and all the new GPS stuff. This car has a dashboard resembling that of a Boeing 747 and will take hours to comprehend all the switches and dials. The operator’s manual is 700 pages, and it’s only one of several manuals that rise about 6 inches from the surface.
Of course half the text are “warnings” that Toyota’s lawyers can point out when someone sues them. But the plaintiff’s lawyer would then point out the incomprehensible 700 pages so suing Toyota is usually successful I would guess.
The car is absolutely amazing for the price and will be a significant improvement in winter weather and all around safety. I was out to the gym this morning before ANY plowing and there was four inches of new snow on the ground everywhere. Every road was snow-bound and there were cars on the side that couldn’t or wouldn’t move. I cruised up the one-mile hill to my house with ease.
I did spend several hours trying to absorb the incompressible operators manual, ultimately to figure out most of it by trial and error. So I have all the satellite radio stations dialed in, my voice trained for commands, my phone contacts set up, all the traffic advisories dialed in, the GPS set up and several other things it does.
RAV4 by Toyota. I’m pretty happy with it.

Film Review: “American Sniper” plus an extra

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2015-01-23-20141003_AmericanSniper1I saw “American Sniper” earlier and I didn’t formally review it for a lot of reasons. I wanted to think about it for a while. Now it’s received a bit of criticism in the media so I guess it’s about time for me to weigh in with some perspective FWIW.

I have a little more practical knowledge about sniping as I ran into some of them out in the field in Vietnam circa ’68 – ’69. They were all specially trained Marines then. For gun nuts, they used Remington Model 70 rifles with 26” barrels and other modifications that weren’t advertised. The ones I saw used 220 Swift rounds as they had an extremely high muzzle velocity (4100 fps if memory serves), a light bullet and a very flat trajectory. Others used traditional 30:06 rounds. I’m stretching my memory now but I believe they could put a bullet behind the ear of a standing person easily at 500 yards. Those distances have extended through the years.

Sniping in World War II was a radically different proposition than both Vietnam and Iraq. Snipers simply put themselves in a position to take out “the enemy” whenever and wherever they pleased, prompting the ever-controversial Michael Moore to opine (in relation to WW II snipers): “My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back”. This statement was completely true in that conflict, but Michael should have chosen his words more carefully as his many political enemies then politicized his statements J

Sniping in Vietnam, at least how I understood it having come into contact with them, was to set up shop extremely camoflaged in a remote area with a spotter and high-powered telescopes to wait for a previously determined human target to appear. That target was usually someone in a position of authority in a village that was suspected (with ample evidence) of being a Viet Cong collaborator. They would wait for long periods of time for the “right” shot. The target would step outside his hooch and go down never having heard the shot that killed him. There were other targets but these were the ones I remember hearing the accounts of.

Then comes a totally different kind of war, Iraq, where the sniper’s duty is to take out those in an otherwise protected position intent on mayhem toward American troops advancing or searching unsecured areas. This was the duty of Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle, about whom the film was created.

The film depicts days in his life, particularly on the job protecting other troops from hidden bomb-throwers. Brad Cooper does an excellent job in this drama, but alas, there’s a problem with it. The same problem that affected “Selma” recently. What’s portrayed on the silver screen is not necessarily the “whole truth”. In fact, very little of “American Sniper” is completely true. It is NOT a documentary. If you want to see a documentary, see Ken Burns.

“American Sniper” is an almost wholly fictional docu-drauma about a guy that really did his best, and a good job as a soldier. The “real” story was highly embellished for the film.

Chris had one paragraph in his book about the “other sniper” Mustafa and had no contact with him. This character was actually taken out by another American sniper.

Chris was not the “deadliest” sniper in war history. 160 kills is not even close to a record. An Italian sniper in WW 2 took out over 400. A Finnish sniper took out over 500 Russians.

Chris is one of five soldiers to ever confirm a distance hit over a mile from a rifle. His was said to be confirmed at 2100 yards. One mile is 1760 yards. Carlos Hathcock held the record from 1967 to 2002 at 2,500 yd.   The current record is held by Briton Corporal Craig Harrison, of the UK’s Household Cavalry, at 2,707 yd in 2009 in Afghanistan

Chris did not shoot a boy with a grenade.

Chris never used a satellite phone to call his wife during real action.

Chris did suffer three gunshot wounds and was injured in a helicopter crash. He had numerous surgeries. He was awarded two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars with Valor, so he was an authentic “hero” in every respect.

I personally know Marines that did all this and no one knows their name.

So I’m not happy with the film because virtually none of it is the real truth of the man. It’s the Brad Cooper show and it rates 4 of 5 peeps through a high power scope for good production. 1 of 5 for accuracy, but remember, one rarely if ever gets more than a contrived drama in “real” stories.

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MV5BMTQ0MDU4NTY0MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjAyNzU0MjE@._V1_SY317_CR5,0,214,317_AL_Quickie Freebie extra: “The Fall” (Netflix 2013-2014)

Sleeper of the year. A character study of the relationship between an extremely effective serial killer (Jamie Dornan) and the female detective (Gillian Anderson) pursuing him. Went by in 2013 virtually unnoticed until the 5th and last episode passed, then a second season came up my popular demand from addicted viewers. This mini-series filmed in Northern Ireland with mostly Irish actors is EXCEPTIONALLY good, very close to the ambiance of “The Killing” but not as dark.

Created, written and directed by ONE writer much like Sons of Anarchy, so it’s a singular vision, without dilution. Season II ended with MANY loose ends and so a season III is absolutely mandated. However, it’s unclear whether Jamie Dornan will be available if his star takes off in “50 shades of grey” opening Valentines Day. A great many enthusiasts are hoping for Season III.

It gets 5 of 5 icy glares. A MUST SEE on Netflix.

Film review: “Selma” (2014)

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UnknownThe Film “Selma” depicts the circumstances of the Selma-to-Montgomery (Alabama) voting rights marches beginning March 5, 1965 led by several directorates of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) including Dr. Martin Luther King.

Please indulge me a little historical observation as I lived in the segregated South and I was very close to all this, even to have stumbled (out of curiosity, I assure you) into a real Klan rally complete with hooded Klansmen and three big burning crosses. But that’s another saga.

This history is extremely complex and I can only summarize the high points here, some additional factoids before you see the film.

“Selma” is a partially fictionalized portrayal of the circumstances in Selma, Alabama following the church bombing that killed four young girls on Sept 15, 1963, marking a major turning point in the civil rights movement. This event was probably the major force in galvanizing the waves of protesters, “freedom riders” and civil rights pantheon of high-visibility personalities that focused on Selma thereafter.

On July 2, 1964, Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Law of 1964 but the actual enforcement of the law was delayed. Shortly thereafter, activist John Lewis led a number of black citizens to the Selma Courthouse to register to vote and they were turned away by then Sheriff Jim Clark. Voter registration continued to be denied until the media attention of Selma-Montgomery marches of 1965 forced the issue into the emerging public TV media.

There were actually three marches over several months, 54 miles long down a two lane highway, mostly campaigning for voting rights. The first march on March 7 was later termed “Bloody Sunday” after police and white citizens affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan attacked marchers. There were several deaths and many severe beatings. Parenthetically, there was another “Sunday Bloody Sunday” memorialized by the band U2 in 1983 following a confrontation with police in Derry, Ireland, not related.

The second march occurred on March 9 led by Dr. King that was turned around by court order before it actually began. King elected to follow the court order as a strategy to get more out the judge next time around. This march became known as “Turnaround Tuesday”. Marchers were later beaten by Klan affiliates. James Reeb, a white Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston was beaten so severely he was taken to the local public hospital in Selma who refused to treat him. He was then taken to Birmingham’s University Hospital two hours away where he later died on Thursday, March 11.

A week after Reeb’s death, on Wednesday March 17, a Federal Judge ruled that the State of Alabama (Governor George Wallace) could not abridge the protestors right to assemble. The media spectacle of “Bloody Sunday”, televised live on CBS prompted Lyndon Johnson to begin decrying the situation on public TV. On March 15, Johnson went on national TV to declare enforcement of the 1964 Civil Right Law, especially as it pertained to voting rights. Dr. King was quoted (while in jail): “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me”.

The third march took place on March 21, along Alabama Route 80 protected by the Alabama National Guard called out by the President Lyndon Johnson. The third march proceeded without harassment. The route is memorialized as the Selma To Montgomery Voting Rights Trail, and is a U.S. National Historic Trail now.

The film itself is rather melodramatic and highlights the violence that occurred in pretty graphic detail. It also hits briefly on the human failings of Martin Luther King and Lyndon Johnson. But the big lapse is that it portrays then President Lyndon B. Johnson as using the civil rights movement more for his political currency than beneficence. This is historically inaccurate, and if anything, applies more to John and Robert Kennedy.

I find it very interesting that most of those in the theater were too young to have any conception of the events of 1965 and never heard of Selma. I once asked a gaggle of Fellows and Residents who Timothy Leary was; none had a clue. None of these theater audiences can comprehend any of it, and like Vietnam, it may eventually be forgotten, which means that the popular record of it may be films like “Selma” and “12 years a slave” which are NOT accurate documentaries, but stylized “docudramas”. Not the same thing.

Currently, there is a lot of unrest and consternation about the occasional black male shot by white guys (sometimes cops) in altercations, which seem to resolve in favor of cultural bias. There are political and legal resolutions of these problems in progress, and these will hopefully be effective although lengthy.

In the early 60s, the Ku Klux Klan, aided by the police instituted a well organized and systematized terror reign in which black (and white) advocates of basic civil right were routinely brutalized and killed using dogs, electric cattle prods, high pressure water hoses, tear gas, guns and clubs. Blacks were routinely lynched for appearing to admire white women. There was NO recourse. If any of the accused landed in a courtroom, they were routinely acquitted or given ridiculous sentences. Any discrimination occurring today is a thin shadow of the Klan in its heyday that few remember now.

“Selma” is a very good, stylized drama but remember that it isn’t an accurate documentary. It’s for entertainment value and it does that well. A word about David Oyelowo’s performance as Dr. King. He studied King’s diction and mannerisms for months and nailed it. I’ve seen and heard King and Oyelowo is as good a replica as anyone has ever seen. He hits every mannerism, especially when giving a speech. It’s an Academy Award meriting performance.

If you really want to understand civil rights in the 60s, the most comprehensive and accurate collection is from Pulitzer winning author Taylor Branch. The ultimate authority and his books are very readable. Highly recommended by me..

http://taylorbranch.com

I give “Selma” 4 of 5 attack dogs. Recommended by me for entertainment value.

 

Film review: “Wild” (2014)

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UnknownYoung standard issue Blonde woman sinks to the bottom of multi-modal self degradation then resolves to “be the woman my mother wanted me to be” by walking 1100 miles of dangerous, treacherous terrain on foot with a big, heavy back pack?

Huh?

Something not quite right with this picture. The conventional wisdom seems to be that facing self imposed, prolonged arduous conditions provides more emotional catharsis than sore feet. The myth of (metaphorically speaking) the “open road” as a life-improving event.

Unclear if there is any real basis for this myth. History shows that the open road leads mainly to isolation and insanity as befell most of the 50’s Beat Generation. The caption on the “Easy Rider” poster in my den reads: “A Man went looking for America……and couldn’t find it”.

The higher reality is never revealed, that the media perception of the “open road “has effectively been pasteurized, homogenized, standardized and the loose ends connected.

This analysis from a guy (me) who ascended to the top of the world in Nepal in 1983 and rode a motorcycle alone 1000 miles through rain, fog and mountain passes along the Adriatic Coast in 2012. There was a huge difference between Cheryl Strayed and me though. When I reached to top of the world I was cold, exhausted, sleep deprived and Dyspneic. I didn’t do it to cleanse my soul. I just wanted to see it, and when I saw it, I had no interest in seeing it again. Nothing changed in my life other than I stored memorable photographs of the experience in my brain and my desktop Mac.

I tend to believe that journey’s like that of Cheryl Strayed for the purposes of emotional cleansing are a delusion. A controlled study of such journeys compared to a couple of months of “therapy” would yield few differences and I don’t much believe in therapy either. A jaded part of me thinks that this journey may have some roots in Cheryl’s potential to get rich off books and screenplays.

I remain not too impressed with “Wild” other than good photography.

I give it 2 of 5 seventy pound backpacks. Too heavy to be functional.

Film Review: “The Imitation Game” (2014)

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the_imitation_game_a_pIt’s a little unusual to see a character so totally commandeer a film as Benedict Cumberbatch does in “The Imitation Game” (2014). He’s such a commanding presence the other characters seem to circulate around him, all simply adding perspective.

Decidedly odd Alan Turing was directly involved in solving the WW II problem of “Enigma”, the German cryptographic machine said to be impenetrable. 159 million million possible entries to decode a message. Turing opined that humans could never break it. It would take 12 million years for a human working 24/7 entering possible code interpretations. Turing saw that only a machine that could sort out probability much faster than the human brain was the only answer, and he was right.

Decidedly odd Alan Turing was directly involved in solving the WW II problem of “Enigma”, the German cryptographic machine said to be impenetrable. 159 million million possible entries to decode a message. Turing opined that humans could never break it. It would take 12 million years for a human working 24/7 entering possible code interpretations. Turing saw that only a machine that could sort out probability much faster than the human brain was the only answer, and he was right.

Of course, the film is not exactly true to the subject as there were many more events that combined to eventually crack the code, and some of the relationships within the Bletchley group are incorrect, poetic license for the purpose of highlighting Turing. Cumberbatch makes a very powerful stab at interpreting the workings genius but in the end the viewer only sees it as eccentricity.

However, it can rightfully be argued that movies are made for the purpose of highlighting performance talent, not scientific accuracy, so some of this can be forgiven to see the lead actor Benedict Cumberbatch do a masterful job of holding that audience’s attention. Even the young actor, Alex Lawther, that plays Turing in flashbacks does a really masterful job. Two other actors that stand out are Charles Dance who plays Turing’s boss and Mark Strong who plays MI 6 boss Stewart Menzies.

Much like “Birdman” (2014) this is a film that is simply built around a single actor who is turned loose to do pretty much what he wants. If you’re willing to forgive much of the rest of the film’s inadequacies, Cumberbatch does it extremely well. The production and cinematography are all excellent. Details of Turing’s personal life are preachy and extraneous.

The film itself suffers from some muddling and endless, tedious waiting as to whether the infernal machine will actually work, and when it does, how to deal with the aftermath.

Best quote: “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine”.

I give it a solid 3 of 5 Eggheads. Good isolated performance surrounded by props.

Film Review: Theory of Everything (2014)

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eddie-redmayneA fresh, tender and loving story between two otherwise normal people laboring with extremely difficult circumstances. Eddie Redmayne labors on two fronts; trying to love a woman as a normal man while managing descent into a debilitating disease. He succeeds on both fronts simultaneously, masterfully effecting musculoskeletal deformity much as Daniel Day-Lewis did in My Left Foot (1989). The film handles the delicate issue of adult sexual needs in the face of physical disability elegantly, as this issue eventually broke up this couple’s marital bond but not their relationship.

That the real Stephen Hawking managed to carry off anything resembling a “normal” life to his current age of 73 after having been given 2 years to live in graduate school is a bit of a story in itself. Hawking has said that in a perverse way, his affliction (ALS) was lucky in that his cognitive brain was not affected and that’s basically all he uses. He’s quite possibly the most intuitive cosmologist (not cosmetologist) that ever lived; his signature resides on the rolls of the Cambridge Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics, the first signature on which is that of Sir Isaac Newton.

Hawking is more or less famous for his search for the Grand Unified Theory of the physical universe, a single equation that convincingly explains the physical properties of existence. Combining mutually incompatible features of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity and Quantum Physics. Were this to happen, man would understand the mind of God. An enormity of incomprehensible proportions.

(Taken from Wiki): “Freeman Dyson has stated ……………that pure mathematics is inexhaustible. No matter how many problems we solve, there will always be other problems that cannot be solved within the existing rules. No matter how many problems we solve, there will always be other problems that cannot be solved. Stephen Hawking was originally a believer in the Grand Unified Theory but (has recently) concluded that one was not obtainable”.

The film explores the human relations aspects of Hawking and his first wife Jane and does so masterfully. Eddie Redmayne is already buzzed for an Oscar. Felicity Jones as Jane puts in a guaranteed Academy Award nomination performance as well.

Highly recommended by me.

I give it four and a half electronic voice makers

Craig Ferguson Live (November 2014)

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Craig Ferguson (Late, Late Show CBS) takes some time off now and again to do stand-up around the country because he likes to do it and it breaks up his Late show routine. I have mentioned before that I think he’s possibly the funniest guy on the planet right now. He has an honest, fast moving, unscripted humor that flows consistently. He likes performing before live audiences and it shows.

He came to the Carnage Library here, a rather small venue not holding very many people. Every seat is a good seat. My problem was negotiating all this with a wheelchair. There was a “wheelchair row” off to the left of the stage but I had better seats, so we had to bludgeon our away around to the other side for our seats about four back from the stage. I had to do several pirouettes but we finally made it to the seats. The couple beside me said this is the third time they’ve seen him in three years and most of those there were Craig veterans as well.

First guy out was the voice of “Geoff” the mechanical skeleton robot that Craig trades quips off routinely. CBS didn’t give him enough money to afford a “sidekick” or much else but a desk, so Craig created living animations to play off. The guy that voices Geoff is really a celebrity voice mime and he’s pretty good. He’s also quick and funny, the perfect foil for Craig. Check out some of their interactions on youtube.

Following this, and a bit of a surprise to the veterans, “Secretariat” the stuffed horse (two guys in a brown cloth horse outfit) came trotting out on stage followed by Craig. They did their little dance together and It was hysterical. The crowd went nuts. Secretariat is a staple on the Late, Late show and plays off Craig as well. The play-offs between Craig and these artificial creatures interact incredibly and always funny. This has never been done before. Craig’s interactions with his guests are never scripted, always completely fresh.

Craig came off as genuinely affectionate with the small audience. You could tell it in his eyes. Basically, his humor consisted of extemporaneous, fast paced storytelling. He paces back and forth along the stage and spins tales pulling it all up as he goes along. The lady sitting next to me says he always starts out telling the audience the best joke ever told, then digresses to the rest of his routine for the next hour and fifteen minutes or so, then to bring up the end, he finally tells the best joke ever told, a joke I will tell you now:

“Two very competitive guys were playing golf and deeply into the game when a funeral procession happened by. One of the golfers stopped in the middle of a putt, took off his cap and stood solemnly as the procession passed. The other golfer was amazed: “Wow, what could possibly prompt you to do this?”. The other golf went back to his putt after the procession passed and remarked: “Well, I was married to her for 35 years”.

Ferguson is a master of grabbing seemingly insignificant daily occurrences and making them funny. Never scripted, no teleprompter or held up signs. He’s alway fresh and always interesting. His last Late, Late show will be December 19 I think and we will lose one of the funniest men on the planet. He admits he has no particular plans for the future.

I would strongly suggest you see his show on CBS after David Letterman 12:30 am. Most TV setups now allow taping. Just tape a couple of shows and watch them earlier. Really one of a kind, his likes probably never to be seen again.