Excerpt from "God Is Good" from Bees in Amber by John Oxenham, 1913.
God has been good to me and M.P. here in our little bungalow, and I am deeply grateful. Gratitude is one of the secrets of happiness.-----
One of my all-time favorite tunes, from MGM's Broadway Melody of 1940. Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell were the top dancers of the time, and it shows. Consider this: there is no animation or special effects in this film. All the music was performed by human beings on real instruments, and all the dancing was done by human beings who rehearsed and rehearsed for weeks on end until every step, every move was perfect.
Computers hadn't been invented yet - hell, even transistors hadn't been invented. There was no videotape. either - all that you see was created by light and sound on 35 millimeter film, which had to be bathed in chemicals before it could be projected and viewed. A great collective work of artists in many fields, in front of and behind the camera. Human creativity at its peak. I'm afraid we will never see such a thing again.
Part 1 is slow and languid as a tropical night:
Part 2 picks up the pace:
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Bonus, 4 p.m.: It's 93 degrees here Texas on a beautiful sunny afternoon. English historian Allan Barton, who styles himself The Antiquary, gives an in-depth explanation of the Trooping and its history, if you can stand it:
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| Life-size bronze statue of Sandow, taken from plaster casts of his body in 1901. Better views of the statue can be seen here. |
In other places, I have read that he had a longtime male partner the public did not know about, but you'll have to look that up on your own. It's my nap time here.
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Yesterday, I happened to come across this recording by the Mike Faraci Band, a local NYC group, which is an amzingly good cover of the 1972 Badfinger original. Huh. How do those young'uns even know about such antique music, I wonder.
By the way, Mike is a man of parts: lead singer, guitarist, composer, artist, interior designer, and is highly skilled at carpentry and other DIY projects. Rather studly, too. Check out this tour of his New York City apartment - his aesthetic is not mine, but I can appreciate what he's done with colors, textures, and light:
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Today's Google doodle celebrates the beginning of "Pride Month" with a spinning disco ball:
I got to wondering, just when did this Pride Month business start, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. To my surprise, I find that Bill Clinton first recognized Pride Month in 1999. I must have missed the memo.
I've never changed my belief that gays and lesbians make up about 3 percent of the population; that's 3 out of 100. You can look at the whole field of statistics on this subject and debate it all you want to, but I'm not going there. So by very simple arithmetic, that tells me there are about 10 million gays and lesbians in the United States, the population of which is 342,543,550 as I type this sentence.
(See the U. S. Census Bureau's Population Clock for up-to-the-second figures on the U. S. and world population. See Statistics Canada for Canadian figures. And here's a cheat sheet for you: roughly speaking, the U.S. population is about 8 times bigger than Canada's, and about 3 times bigger than Mexico's or Russia's. However, both India and China have about 4 times more people than the United States.)
Well, anyway, is a whole month of Pride really necessary? It matters not to me, because I'm an old man who doesn't get out of the house much anymore. I've never been to a Pride parade. M.P. and I did go to a Pride celebration at the county fairgrounds on a June night in 2019 - we got there in the cool of the evening about 9 p.m., when it was all winding down.
We nibbled things from the food trucks, listened to a few speakers and singers, and bought some trinkets to take home: a friendly, pleasant, down-home crowd of all ages, very like what you'd find at a real county fair - plus a lot of rainbow flags. There were even some straight couples there, pushing babies in strollers - why, I have no idea. The next year, it was cancelled on account of the pandemic, and we've never heard any more about it in this vicinity.
But I guess there has to be a Pride Month, because you just know that 10 million screaming queens could never agree on a single week, let alone a single day!
P. S. -- M.P. is offended by the disco ball. He says it only represents the little twinkly barflies, and leaves out the butch gays and the lesbians. I guess he's right. We are thinking of suing Google now, and we will certainly file a discrimination complaint with the Grand Gay Cabal. Stay tuned for further updates.
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I came across this little story about forty years ago, when I was returning to the Christian faith after a long period of agosticism. It meant a lot to me then. It means even more now, looking back across the years.
There are things you can't really understand until you have lived a long life, travelled a long way, loved much and lost much. And then you see the footprints. Thanks be to God.
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| Click to enlarge. |
And in the wilderness (as thou hast seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this place.
--Deuteronomy 1:31 (Douay)
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| Official photograph of Representative Barney Frank, 2008. |
Frank is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, two sisters, and a brother. He was a hero of our community who will be much missed and long remembered. Here are some videos recounting his life and accomplishments:
The Associated Press:
The Washington Post:
NBC10 Boston:
CBS 60 Minutes interview, 2008:
Frank was the author of a number of books on political subjects; his final work, The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy, will be published by Yale University Press this fall.
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| Click to enlarge. |
Bonus: The English country house that was used for exterior shots is still standing just outside London, and just as lovely as it looks in the film. Check out the real estate listing from 2019 to see some stunning photos of the inside and outside.
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But I said to myself, you ought to listen to him and post his video for others who just might want to hear what he has to say. So here you go, fellas. I will just add that I admire Pete tremendously, and he will certainly get my vote for president, if I live long enough to see another free and fair election.
In my estimation, Pete is a damn good man, a fine man, honest, honorable, intelligent, compassionate, and courageous. A man at once humble and inspiring. I wept listening to his simple speech, which seemed to me the prologue to a noble story: David versus Goliath, perhaps. He is marked out for some high destiny, I do believe.
But what do I know. Listen and judge for yourself.
P. S. -- I will note here that I don't quite agree with Pete's thesis that "the system is broken." When a man's body is overwhelmed by a filthy contagion, it's not his system that is broken. Our body politic has been overwhelmed by disease and corruption that may prove fatal unless a remedy is found, and soon. That's how I would put it.
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In 2009 and again in 2011, President and Mrs. Obama hosted a series of concerts in the East Room of the White House, each one showcasing a different genre of contemporary American music. In the July 2009 concert, country star Brad Paisley debuted his new single "Welcome to the Future," which your Head Trucker thinks ought to be counted one of the all-time great country songs: full of hope, optimism, love of country and of our fellow human beings.
The song and video together constitute a brilliant work of homegrown American art - celebrated in the White House by a decent and dignified President, and not for his own glory. At that time, we still had hope, the country was still holding together, and the misty future seemed a green and pleasant land.
But here in this gray, grim, and ghastly future, this performance makes me weep for our country and the world - for several reasons. Do I really have to explain why?
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Many and many a year ago, I remember a summer when a buddy and I would drive down to the coast every weekend to lie out on the sand, drink beer, and broil ourselves brown. We also had a workout routine we often practiced in the living room of his pad . . . but, um, not quite like this one.
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| Johnny promises you'll have something good in your mouth in just five minutes. |
It grieves M.P. and me no end to hear of so many people today who have no idea how to cook for themselves, and are afraid to try. So they send off for factory-made food that comes in a box, and spend twice as much money to eat half as much food! I tell you, we sometimes sit around the kitchen table and just cry our eyes out, thinking of the terrible waste and ignorance afflicting this country. It's so sad!
So as a public service, I propose to present some of Johnny Mac's videos here to encourage all the poor, helpless non-cooks to give it a try. Cookery is NOT HARD. (Baking is tricky, but that's another story.) And the beautiful thing about Johnny Mac - apart from his studly big beard - is that he shows and tells you all you need to know, quickly and simply, without fuss or fanfare.
As the first in what may become a series on this blog, here's a simple, delicious dinner idea that anyone can make who can cut butter with a knife: first the pork chops, and then the gravy to go over them. This is something our mamas used to cook often, only they made a much simpler gravy from just oil, flour, milk and/or water. If you want to learn to cook for yourself, this is a great place to start.
Here's how to fry pork chops - but if you don't have a meat thermometer as Johnny does, just cook the chops until they begin to brown and all the meat inside is white, but not longer; pork chops get tough when overcooked.
And here's Johnny's deluxe gravy recipe:
For a simple side dish, make a box of mac & cheese, or some instant mashed potatoes; easier still is to bake a potato or two in the oven or microwave. For your second veggie, open a can of beans, peas, greens, carrots, or corn, which are already cooked and only have to be hotted up on the stove or in the microwave. Butter a piece or two of plain bread, pour yourself a beverage, and there's your dinner - for less per person than the cost of burgers and fries at McDonald's. Enjoy!
P. S. -- For an even quicker and simpler dinner: when your pork chops are about done, open a can of pork & beans, blackeyed peas, or creamed corn, and pour over the pork chops. Stir around in the hot oil and let bubble a couple of minutes until all is hot, then turn off the fire and help yourself. This method mingles the pork flavor with the veggies in a delicious way.
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But we went, and both of us had a grand time. He truly was Mr. Showmanship - a consummate entertainer, and from the moment he stepped onto the stage in a glittering sequined suit and fur-lined cape, he enthralled everyone in that huge arena, individually and collectively, and held them spellbound until he played his last note. Virtuosity. Spectacle. Magic.
I've never seen anything like it, before or since. Not a dull moment in the whole show, musically or visually, and the outfits kept getting more and more flamboyant - oh Mary, don't ask! But never a hint of vulgarity, and the audience just begged for more, blue-haired ladies and manly men alike.
So this is for you, my darling red-haired Mama. I miss you so.
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| There's just something about a man with a cigar . . . Ted Turner, 1977 |
I recollect when he started his first TV station in Atlanta, where I was living at the time. Channel 17 was a low-budget start-up that I chiefly remember because it would play Top 40 songs all morning? / afternoon? on Saturday - producing the first music videos, all done in-house by using special effects with the TV cameras - like mirror images, upside-down dancers, a rain of polka dots, and so forth. Primitive, but fascinating at the time. I watched them on my nifty little Sony TV with a 5-inch screen, which was the last word in cool back then.
He was married three times and had five children. His third wife, from 1991 to 2001, was Jane Fonda, who has written this lovely tribute:
He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same. He needed me. No one had ever let me know they needed me, and this wasn’t your average human being that needed me, this was the creator of CNN, and Turner Classic Movies, who had won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor . . .
He was a good-looking rascal, but straight as a board, and therefore typically boring: not someone I kept track of; I hadn't thought about him in years. But as far as I know, he wasn't hateful or malicious, nor was he a thief or a rapist, as we hear so much about today. And looking over his obituaries, I am struck by all the many good things he did or tried to do for the country and the world. He actually cared about other people - what a concept - and had a big heart.
If you can spare the time to look at some of these retrospectives, you will see that, unlike some other big-mouthed billionaires, he actively promoted world peace, nuclear disarmament, environmental regulation, wildlife protection, responsible journalism, and other noble causes. He put his money where his big mouth was, too - lots of it.
So I have to say, Good on you, Ted. You used your time on earth wisely and well, and your treasure too. Rest in peace.
TCM:
PBS:
WSB (Atlanta, 1988):
And a 52-minute interview with Charlie Rose from 2004 - it's most interesting to hear Turner's condemnation of Bush's invasion of Iraq, and contrast that with the insane, homicidal ravings of the current occupant of the White House:
P. S. -- Turner was no dummy, either. He wanted to major in classics (Latin/Greek literature and history) in college, until his daddy threw a fit and made him choose something else. In one of the videos above, Turner quotes from memory a famous passage from "Horatio at the Bridge" by Macaulay:
To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods . . . .
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And I know what you're thinking. I was, too. Here's a compilation of those Looney Tunes we all remember:
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| Screen capture of the speech from the Associated Press broadcast. Queen Camilla, in white, is seated to the King's left. |
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Double-click the screen to go full size; hit escape to exit.
Once again, I state what M.P. says, and he ought to know: if they're only swimming, it's not porn.
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The play was written by Julian Green (1900-1998), born to expatriate American Southerners in Paris. (The family home in Savannah is now a museum.) He was a prolific writer, mostly in French, among whose many honors and awards was election to the Olympic heights of the Académie Française in 1971, the first non-French person to be chosen. Besides which, to judge by the contents of his meticulous lifelong diaries - published in 19 volumes after his death - he was, shall we say, rather energetically gay. Perhaps, as a Catholic, he had his own struggles with l'absurdité.
The full movie can be seen here (1:19:31).
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P. S. - I must say, I'm disappointed and a bit shocked that the UK Government has not yet erected some kind of memorial to their late beloved monarch, who served them so long and so well. Shame on them!
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| My dream girl once upon a time . . .. |
Cher, 1967. An old favorite of mine. The message still resonates in today's world.
Backup music - by turns ethereal and dramatic - provided by the Wrecking Crew.
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M.P. says if they're only swimming, it's not porn. I'm glad to get clarification on that.
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For several years now at dinnertime, M.P. and I have enjoyed watching episodes of To Tell the Truth from the early 1960s. I remember it well from my childhood, and I think it is the most entertaining of all the old game shows - perhaps because, unlike with other game shows, neither the panelists nor the audience knows who the real featured character is, so it's fun to try guessing who it is.
This particular episode is perhaps the most entertaining of all, for reasons you will discover if you watch it. Big laughs.
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Some pics of our latest festive dinners. I post these mainly for our own future reference.
No pictures of the food, but our Palm Sunday dinner was a simple one of breaded cod, fondant potatoes, and steamed broccoli. The table setting was simple too, as we like to do for Holy Week:
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| M.P. laid folded green napkins in a cross pattern under the center candles. |
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| They're hard to make out in these pics, but in the centerpiece are three Easter eggs on sticks, yellow, pink, and blue. |
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| Braised lamb shanks, herbed carrots, baked potatoes. The first course was creamed chicken soup. Dessert, not shown, was lemon mousse in parfait glasses. Everything was quite delicious. |
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I won't ask where the Republican voices are - they sold their souls to the Devil a long time back when they swore allegiance to Trump. But where are the protests? Where are the voices of sanity and outraged conscience? If there is any is outcry, in the streets or in the TV studios, the news feeds I see way down here in Texas sure aren't reporting any. The train is about to fall off the bridge, and no one seems upset in the U.S. of A., where life is humming along as usual.
For God's sake, will no one tell this maniac to his face to just stop it? Will no one stay his evil hand from this monstrous crime? No one at all?
God have mercy on us all, the whole human race.
Update, 7 p.m.:
Trump "Agrees" to Two-Week Ceasefire
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Your Head Trucker asks: Why are there not millions in the streets right now, all over this country, demanding an end to these evil threats? Destroying a whole country? Killing millions of people? If that isn't the Devil talking, what is it?
And you know, what goes around, comes around. Don't think this country or its leaders are invulnerable. And there would be a chain reaction of events, probably, that just might devastate the whole world. Is there anyone in Washington with enough guts to stand up and say NO to that maniac?
Time's a-wasting. We're standing on the edge of a bottomless abyss.
BTW: There's a lot of talk online about invoking the 25th Amendment. But that would only make J.D. Vance president. How do you feel about that?
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| R E J O I C E ! |
The Choir of King's College Cambridge:
Sylvia McNair exquisitely performs the much-loved aria from Messiah:
The Lessons Appointed for Use on
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Bonus: Rick Steves takes us on a fascinating tour of unusual European Easter customs:
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15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
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| Murillo, The Crucifixion, circa 1675. Click to enlarge. |
Fernando Ortega gives a deeply moving performance of the well-known hymn from Bach's St. Matthew Passion.
The Lessons Appointed for Use on
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Therefore let us keep the feast.
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| Agnus Dei by Zurbaran, circa 1635. |
The Lessons Apppointed for Use on
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| Hippolyte Flandrin, The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, 1844. Click to enlarge, |
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race, you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Addendum, 3/20: In his Palm Sunday homily, Pope Leo said God does not listen to the prayers of those who claim to wage war in the name of the Prince of Peace, quoting from the first chapter of Isaiah:
Pope Leo on Sunday said death and suffering caused by the war in the Middle East are a “scandal to the whole human family”, as he once again pleaded for an immediate ceasefire.As the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week, the first U.S. pope said that he continues to follow with “dismay” the situation in the Middle East and in other regions torn apart by war and violence.“We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, the defenceless victims of these conflicts. What hurts them hurts the whole of humanity,” Leo said at his weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.“I strongly renew my appeal for us to persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and the way may finally be paved for peace,” he added.
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The George Orwell essay that Krugman quotes from can be found here.
And finally, a Pennsylvania voter puts the blame squarely on herself:
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