More Friday Family Blogging

While the last picture of Natalie was rather wintry in tone, here's a nice summer shot (albeit in b&w) of Sara. This was taken, I'm pretty sure, at Saltwater State Park near Tacoma.

Friday Family Blogging

This picture of Natalie was shot in early January out at Hunter's Creek. I think it turned out pretty good, but then it helps to have a good subject.

Friday Philosophy

It's amazing to me that the enemies of organized labor fail to recognize its significant role in shaping the vast success of the United States in the twentieth centruy. Those who would dismantle such institutions as unions would do well to remember the words of cultural critic Herbert Croly (1869-1930):

"Unless the great majority of Americans
not only have, but believe they have, a fair
chance, the better American future will
be dangerously compromised."

Cool Song

I picked up the new Decemberists album today, called The King is Dead. It's really good-- a little more stripped down than past efforts. Here's one of the songs off the record, in a live version:

Toonerville Thursday

Whenever current events have got me down, I can always count on a visit to Toonerville to make me feel little bit better.

Further Evidence...

... that Governor Walker of Wisconsin is a lying gasbag (I'm tempted to use even stronger invective, but I guess that makes the point). Needless to say, this kind of grandstanding on the backs of hard-working state employees really ticks me off. In another classic Captain Renault moment, I'm shocked-- shocked!-- to see that noted man-of-the-people (if those people happen to be very rich) John Boehner is backing this assault on workers' rights. This paragon of hypocrisy even has the gall to claim he supports such blatant union-busting in the interests of protecting jobs. Let's see, according to these creeps unions (workers) are bad and government is bad-- who does that leave as their constituency? Oh yeah, corporations-- as we all know, the very heart of any functioning democracy. It's downright sickening.

A Thought for Thursday

I certainly don't see anything to disagree with in this quote from the great Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910):

"In all history there is no war which
was not hatched by the governments,
the governments alone, independent of
the interests of the people, to whom war
is always pernicious even when successful."

A Tribute to My Home Town

I'm hoping it's more than two degrees back in Buffalo, for the benefit of all my friends and family back there. Regardless of the weather, you might enjoy this song about one of the great, unsung cities of this nation or any other; I know I can't wait to get back there for a visit.

Three Pictures: The Pacific

Once again, as the snow falls outside my window, I'm thinking of warmer climes. Here are three pictures of the Pacific Ocean taken on a trip down the coast of Southern California back in 2007. The first two were taken at Pismo Beach (as I recall), a couple hundred miles west of Los Angeles.

The third is a shot off the Santa Monica Pier, where obviously I wasn't the only one enjoying the view.

Wednesday's Quote

Today's words of wisdom come from the noted Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov (1860-1904):

"A good upbringing means not that you
won't spill sauce on the tablecloth, but
that you won't notice it when someone
else does."

Eighties Classic

For some reason there are no live clips of the Del Fuegos performing material off their first album (which I like better than their later output). But here's one of those songs (without accompanying video), which I suppose is just as good:

Three Photos: Las Vegas

I'm looking forward to a visit to Las Vegas next week, and thought I'd look through some photos of past trips to put myself in the proper mood (by which I mean, the mood to take more pictures). Above is a night view of a part of Caesar's Palace from Las Vegas Blvd.

Here's part of the facade outside of the Paris Hotel & Casino. The latticework is part of the base of the faux Eiffel Tower there.

Last is a shot looking north up the strip from the walkway connecting the MGM Grand and New York New York. Las Vegas is definitely a fun place to carry around a camera, and it especially lends itself to black and white. Look for more after I return.

This Week's Top Five

This may not be as funny as last week's list, but maybe you'll learn something that you didn't know...

Today's Quotation

Kudos to the thousands of state workers in Wisconsin who turned out today to stand up to their troglodyte governor (read about it here, and note the very last line). No doubt they knew the sentiment, if not the exact quote, offered here from Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926):

"If it had not been for the discontent of a few
fellows who had not been satisfied with their
conditions, you would still be living in caves.
Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of
civilization. Progress is born of agitation.
It is agitation or stagnation."

Battle of the Bands Tune

Here's one of the most famous riffs in rock and roll history. I remember this being played endlessly on WGRQ the summer of 1973, the year that station went on the air, and it kind of defined my idea of cutting edge rock at a young age (as opposed to the Top 40 stuff I grew up listening to on AM radio). So I'm glad to see Deep Purple moving on in our little competition:

Battle of the Bands Update

The Guess Who

Last night on Dr. John's Record Shelf, we completed the Second Round in the Mod Bracket. The Guess Who (seeded no. 3) knocked off Yes (11) by an 8-3 score, while Deep Purple (7) upset Pink Floyd (2) by a narrow 6-5 margin. This means that Deep Purple will face the Guess Who in Round Three.

Deep Purple

Songs in the competition this week included: "Hand Me Down World" by the Guess Who, "I've Seen All Good People" by Yes, "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, and "See Emily Play" by Pink Floyd. Next week will see the last pairings in Round Two, with the following match-ups: "Day Tripper" by the Beatles v. "Keep On Runnin'" by the Spencer Davis Group and "Needles and Pins" by the Searchers (5) v. "Dandy" by Herman's Hermits. Feel free to cast votes on those pairs in the comments section.

Quote of the Day

George Jean Nathan (1882-1958) was a pretty well-known man of letters in the first half of the twentieth century, known primarily for his theater criticism. Here's a line of his that I agree with:

"A life spent in constant labor is a life
wasted, save a man be such a fool as
to regard a fulsome obituary notice
as ample reward."

A Classic Scene

After heaping praise on Destry Rides Again in the last post, I thought it only natural to follow-up with a clip of what may be its most famous scene: the catfight between Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel. I don't know it it ever gets better than this:

It Was a Very Good Year

I mentioned the other day that, given the ten films nominated, I would've voted for Stagecoach for the Best Picture Oscar back in 1939 (supposedly the greatest year in film history). But even so, I'm not convinced that John Ford's great film was even the best western made that year. In fact, for pure entertainment value, I'd likely give the nod to Destry Rides Again. Directed by the the incredibly prolific, if not exactly exalted, George Marshall, Destry is a near perfect blend of comedy and action. Jimmy Stewart plays the low key title character, brought to a wild town to restore order by an old pal of his father's who suddenly finds himself wearing a sheriff's badge. The new deputy, much to his boss's surprise and shame, arrives and immediately eschews the use of guns or force to maintain order (totally contrary to his reputation, or for that matter, his father's). Of course, as the story unfolds, he is forced to revise his attitude somewhat, but this is one of those cases where the sum of the plot is ultimately much less interesting than the little bits of business that make up the individual scenes. Most of these are stolen by some of the greatest character actors in Hollywood history: Billy Gilbert as a bartender, Una Merkel as a boarding house proprietress, Mischa Auer as her mail order husband (he may not literally be that, but it amuses me to think so, given his role in the story), Charles Winninger as the sheriff nee town drunk, Allen Jenkins as a henchman to the main villain. None of these folks are stars of the rank of Marlene Dietrich, Brian Donlevy or Stewart-- all of whom are also really good-- but it is their presence and performances that elevate this to classic status. Without them it would be a run of the mill oater. Auer in particular makes me laugh, and is almost as good here as he was in My Man Godfrey, struggling to get out from under the gilded reputation of his wife's first husband (made all the more difficult when he loses his only pair of pants in a poker game). I believe one of the hardest things to do in movies (or maybe any kind of story-telling) is to strike a true balance between comedy and drama, especially when violence is a strong element in the latter. But Destry Rides Again could be the model for getting it right. I watched it last night (at least the fourth time I've seen it), and I'm already looking forward to seeing it again.

Sunday Funnies

Abbie and Slats was one of the most beautifully drawn strips ever. Created by the noted illustrator Raeburn Van Buren and Al Capp (creator of Lil Abner, who wrote the scripts for Van Buren's artwork), it featured the adventures of , Abbie, the bighearted but prickly maiden aunt and Slats, the rough-edged young man who often found himself at odds with the bluenoses of little Crabtree Corners.

The real star, at least in the more comic Sunday adventures, was "Bathless" Groggins, the reprobate father of Slats' girlfriend Becky. As you can see from the above example especially, "Bathless" had a knack of getting under other peoples' skin.

I only discovered this strip years after its heyday (it ran from 1937 to 1971, but never in a paper I saw as a kid). But it made an immediate impression and deserves to be remembered as the classic it was, every bit as good as contemporary "good art" strips like Terry & the Pirates and Prince Valiant.