The Last Time I Committed Suicide

There is a common thread in a number of the recent movies I've watched, guess what it is. This movie, The Last Time I Committed Suicide, written and directed by Stephen Kay, was released in 1997, and is 1 hour 32 minutes long.
The movie is about the early adulthood of a real person, who was the model for Dean Moriarty, Jack Kerouac's central character in the seminal novel "On the Road". Neal Cassady was an frenetic inspiring man who inspired Beat Generation writers such as Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg. Later in life Cassady became the bus driver for Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and was a central character for Thomas Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
The characters are...

• Keanu Reeves as Harry, the drunken 30 something friend of Cassady, lecherous for young women and always looking for someone to buy him a drink. Reeves is very good in this role, but not a character you will like. Late in the movie he causes Cassady to miss a chance at lifetime love. Harry is the devil on Neal's shoulder suggesting all the bad choices and begging for his involvement.
• Thomas Jane as Neal Cassady, the lead in a few movies that aren't exactly first grade, best example being the Punisher.
• Adrien Brody as Ben, the openly homosexual writer friend. A small part but I believe meant to represent Allen Ginsburg.
• Claire Forlani as Joan, the object of Neal's love and the suicidal character. Forlani is most memorable to me as Anthony Hopkins daughter in Meet Joe Black.
• Gretchen Mol as Mary Greeway or "Cherry Mary" the sixteen year old beauty and former girlfriend of Neal's. Gretchen Mol can be seen in Rounders and 3:10 to Yuma.
  Marg Helgenberger as Lizzy, Marg is best known from television's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation series.

This movie is set in the late nineteen-forties, when Neal was a young man of twenty something. Neal's girlfriend attempts suicide and is hospitalized. His frenetic personality draws him first to make long very personal visits but in the ends causes him to avoid the hospital entirely. In the void Harry steps in and they go back in time to relive experiences with Cherry Merry and the hone their bar scene, pool playing vices. After a while Neal is fooled into a visit with Joan by Lizzy. The deep love is rekindled instantly. Neal in the context of setting his life right sets out to get a suit for job a interview, promising to return immediately to Joan. Then Neal is side tracked by Harry who draws him into a local bar begging for a date with Cherry Mary. Cherry Mary's mother calls the cops and Neal is arrested delaying his return to Joan. Two weeks later Neal is released and Joan is gone, to this is what Neal refers to as "The Last Time I Committed Suicide", he feels deep loss.

Score 39 of 50, a high score for me but a movie that fits my reading interests. If you have read and enjoyed "On the Road", you must watch this movie.

• Character Development 10 out of 10. The main character is involved in moral issues will have consequence on the rest of his life.
• Acting 6 out of 10. Reeves is good, the rest of an intensity that fits the Beat generation.
• Photography, cinematography 8 of 10. I very much enjoyed the city scenes juxtaposed against the Rocky Mountains, the bar scenes as smokey and foreboding, and women while tragic.
• Writing, script 6 out of 10. Fits the subject.
• Concept 9 out of 10. For me it matched the stream of consciousness the Beats embodied.
  

It's Not My Seat

As he would say, Brother does.
You should visit and claim your seat.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

This tree grows in my back yard. A gift from Nikki and Steve as an honor to Bruce. When the gift arrived we were in a drought, there was some apprehension on my part whether or not this would survive. Spring brings new life and these friends intention has been successful, this Golden Maple's life does remind me of my brother.

Thank you Steve and Nikki.

The title is same of a famous book McCort ripped off for Angela's Ashes.

That Was Too Close For Comfort

Tom Daschle is not interested in the position of Vice President.
Don Jorgengsen of Keoland TV, reports that the former Senate Majority Leader from the state of South Dakota has no interest in becoming Vice President.
Out of office for the last 4 years, Mr. Daschle has endorsed Democratic front runner Barrack Obama and now serves as one of his national campaign co-chairs.

"I think he has the capacity to bring this country together,"
"I think he has more charisma than Bill Clinton and more of the capacity to lead than any president of my lifetime up until the Kennedy's in the 60's."

What is with these democrats, the obsession with comparisons to John F. Kennedy. I'm sure that in Ted's camp Obama is seen as a useful n-word. Don't say I'm wrong, the Irish of Massachusetts are very prejudiced, it's just under the table.

And on being a candidate..

"We have not talked about it and I don't expect we will. Like I say I like the role I got right now and I don't expect to be asked to do anything in particular if Barrack Obama is elected president."

Thank heavens for his moment of clarity.

His endorsement did not please the Clinton camp, but he is not concerned...

"I expect we'll be good friends once this is over, obviously it created a little bit of friction in the relationship and that's understandable given the fact I've known them longer, but this is nothing against Hillary or her husband, it's really my advocacy because I think he'd make the better candidate, the better President."

Maybe Tom isn't concerned, but if Hillary doesn't get the nod, he better start wearing an athletic cup.

Mullet

"Business in the front, party in the back."

Jeff Foxworthy

Attraction

An unknown movie arrived Monday, named Attraction. At film released in 2000, rated R and lasts 1 hour 35 minutes. The movie was chosen because one of the actresses, not that I had any remembrance of trailers or it having been in the theaters.
The story is one of strained relationships. Matthew and Liz have broken up before the plot begins, but Matthew is having trouble letting go. Matthew has become a stalker, sleeping in his car outside Liz's apartment and acting out with aggressive behavior. Enter Matthew's best friend who assumes the role of Liz's protector. Faced with a protective person, Matthew attempts to make Liz jealous by dating her friend Corey. The maneuver plays out and Matthew becomes truly attached to Corey. In the void Garrett the protector become Garrett the boyfriend, and in his own way becomes obsessive. To combat the obsessive behaviour Liz calls Matthew and the two have a tryst, at the end of which he realizes his feelings for Corey and leaves in regret. Garrett discovers and informs to Corey who shuts out the boyfriend. In the meantime Garrett is back over to Liz's and in an angry rage, beats her up to within an inch of her life. Liz in the hospital, Matthew is arrested to the assault. During Matthew's incarceration, he tells Corey that he believes Garrett is the culprit. After some recognition Carey follows Garrett in her car, he sees this and in a panic has a fatal accident. Liz recovers, but you never see her again, only Matthew and Corey meeting in a coffee house and Corey giving him the brush off. Liz had identified Garrett as her attacker freeing the ex-boyfriend.

The actors were...

• Matthew Settle as Matthew, a self absorbed column writer and supposed expert on relationships.


• Tom Everett Scott as Garrett, Matthew's newspaper editor and friend. Scott played Wyatt Cole in the 2006 failed series "Saved".


• Gretchen Mol as Liz, the object of the boys desire. Recently very good in "3:10 to Yuma".


• Samantha Mathis as Corey, Liz's good friend and fulcrum for Matthew.

Score 27 of 50, developed nicely, not one that I would recommend.

• Character Development 5 out of 10. Characters slipped into and out of the negative. Bad turned good and good turned bad.
• Acting 5 out of 10. Believable enough, nothing exceptional.
• Photography, cinematography 5 of 10.
• Writing, script 5 out of 10.
• Concept 7 out of 10. Very much enjoyed the twist. Touched on, with some accuracy, how the sexes manipulate each other.

Half Sounds About Right

"I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money."

Aurthur Godfrey

Said with class by the departed entertainer.
Encourage your congressmen to endorse FairTax!

The Innocent Man

This is the fifth and last book I received for Christmas. The bride thought it was amusing to purchase a book with large type and I have to admit, I kind of liked not having to find reading glasses before starting to read. Written by John Grisham this is a true story.

The subject is Ron Williamson, a baseball prodigy, who went as far as to be draft by the Oakland Athletics and play minor league baseball. Arm injuries and motivational problems ended the Oklahoman's baseball career before he ever made the show. Baseball was followed by a divorce, difficulty holding down jobs, womanizing and massive substance abuse. Ron Williamson had developed bipolar and schizophrenic behaviour but was not diagnosed till much later.

In March of 1983 a young woman, Debbie Carter, of Williamson's hometown of Ada Oklahoma, was raped and murdered. Ron Williamson, by now the town nut was an immediate suspect, so much so that the police seemed to put blinders on to any other possibility. For five years the police struggled with a way to charge Williamson and his accomplice Dennis Fritz. When charged the defendants received inadequate representation and were found guilty. Williamson was slated for execution and Fritz for life imprisonment.

A decade of imprisonment for Williamson drove him into insanity. Health care was non-existant for the condemned in Oklahoma's McAlester prison. About this time Ron received a stay of execution and a new trial was ordered. The new trial, aided by new developed DNA testing, led to dismissal of all charges. After 12 years in prison both Williamson and Fritz were free.

After the dismissals, both of the men were phobic of police intentions. Perhaps egged on by the Ada district attorney who who not convinced. Fritz moved away was able to live happily with his mother and mend a relationship with his daughter. Williamson struggled with his mental illness, a man in his late forties and early fifties, looking 20 years older, moved in and out of nursing homes and when free repeatedly going off his medications. In short time complaints of stomach pain led to a discovery of inoperable cirrhosis of the liver. Ron Williamson died in December 2004.

This was a good book, not in the manner of other Grisham novels, but more like a television true case story. Give it a try.

McCaul Proposes an End to Vanity Projects

During this years debate on how our tax dollars are carved up for influence on voting and campaign support, Texas Representative Michael McCaul introduced legislation that could at least remove the temptation of self congratulation.
In the last couple of years our congressmen have become so conceited as to name the projects funded by earmarks for themselves. Recently absurd examples include buildings named for Robert Byrd in West Virginia and Charles Rangle in New York. Poor taste is a kind description of the trend, these elected officials secure taxpayer dollars for pet projects in their districts and then as if to remind constituents of their benefactor's generosity, arrange to have the project carry their name.
To push back the tide of arrogance, Texas Representative McCaul introduced limiting legislation, saying....

"The legislation I am introducing is simple,"
"It would prohibit federal funds from being used for any project named after a sitting member of Congress."

There is already a House rule that prohibits the naming of federal buildings for active members, but this does not apply to other projects receiving federal funds.

Here is the full text and link to the original document....

End Funding For Projects Named After Members of Congress

Deadline for original cosponsors: Thursday, April 10, 2008 at Noon

Dear Colleague:

The American people are outraged by the waste and abuse they see in Congressional earmarks. One of the most egregious of these practices is members using taxpayer money to name the projects after themselves. Although there is currently a House rule that prohibits naming federal buildings after current Members of Congress, this rule does not extend to other entities that receive federal funds.

The legislation I am introducing is simple. It would prohibit federal funds from being used for any project named after a sitting Member of Congress. Please join me in supporting this common sense proposal that can help Congress start to regain the trust of the American people.

If you have any questions or wish to cosponsor, please contact Charles Fields in my office at 5-2401 or Charlesfields@mail.house.gov .

Sincerely,

Michael T. McCaul

Member of Congress

That this proposal is even necessary is disappointing. Simple in its intent, it is a great idea for ending the poor taste practice of those who not by the greatness of the actions in their career but by the desperation for legacy create their own idol for false worship.

Didn't the Bible cover this pretty well?

For his clarity I believe Mr. McCaul to be a great American.

The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat

When the mail arrived from NetFlix my first thought was "oh crap" that movie should have been removed from my queue. This movie was released in 1974, and without using fast forward, lasts 76 minutes.

Fritz has devolved from the first movie, now he has a wife and and a kid or kitten would be more correct. The wife is riding his ass because all he does is lay around smoking grass he bought with the welfare check. The movie is basically a set of nine hallucinations that Fritz enjoys why the wife is yammering away about what a slug he has become. Some of these escapes are...

• Fritz splits the ridicule scene, successfully seduces his friend Juan's sister, then heads down to the Bowery to hang out with drunks.
• Finds himself in Germany's WWII where he is inducted into the army, becomes Hitler's psychologist, then get shot in the backside by Patton.
• In current time, the fabulous urban seventies, Fritz tries to raise money by pawning a toilet seat, instead Morris the shop owner trades him for an astronaut's helmet. The helmet leads to a space trip to Mars.
• After Mars, Fritz visits Harlem and meets the ghost of Duke, the pool playing crow that was killed in the first movie.
• After Duke disappears, Fritz is recruited to deliver a Presidential message to New Africa which used to be New Jersey, the problem being that the blacks, crows, don't let in the whites. Fritz is excited because crow chicks know everything by age eleven. When Fritz arrives to deliver the message to the New Africa president, the president is assassinated, blame is placed on Fritz and war breaks out between the United States and New Africa. The war ends with the United States nuking New Africa, and then the US unconditionally surrenders.
• In a later trip Fritz ands up hiding in the the sewers and meeting the devil, who is a faggot, the movie's words, not mine.

I don't have the stomach to watch or detail all nine, lets just accept that they all are bad.

From the appearance of the art, it seems evident that the original creator, Ralph Bakshi, was not involved. The detail in the artwork is just not there. The film clips, starting and intertwined with Roosevelt seem to serve no purpose.

Fritz's son, a kitten, is still crawling around, but has mastered playing with himself using either hand. That's all I have to say about that.

Don't ever watch this movie.

GI Joe Was In Bosnia When Hillary Arrived

The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan is one of my favorite columnists. Clearly she inspires others having a healthy sarcastic jones. This paragraph is at the end of her recent entry, a copy of comments made by a reader.

Actually Mrs. Clinton was too modest. I was there and saw it all. When Mrs. Clinton got off the plane the tarmac came under mortar and machine gun fire. I was blown off my tank and exposed to enemy fire. Mrs. Clinton without regard to her own safety dragged me to safety, jumped on the tank and opened fire, killing 50 of the enemy." Soon a suicide bomber appeared, but Mrs. Clinton stopped the guards from opening fire. "She talked to the man in his own language and got him [to] surrender. She found that he had suffered terribly as a result of policies of George Bush. She defused the bomb vest herself. Then she turned to his wounds. She stopped my bleeding and saved my life. Chelsea donated the blood.

Priceless, GI Joe captures the sentiment of all I know concerning the Honorable Senator, that she is full of crap.

Senate Majority Leader Says Our Tax System is Voluntary

In an interview with Jan Helfeld Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, and I quote...

"I don't think we force people. In fact quite to the contrary. Our system of government is a voluntary tax system."

When pressed on the definition of voluntary Reid did concede that if you did not pay you taxes you were subject to being forcibly detained. His argument seemed to center on the differences between US and European tax systems. Many European countries have the employers withhold all taxes prior to payment to the citizen, Harry suggests that in the US system the citizens have the flexibility to pay at the time they see fit. This is only partially true. Besides the portions of withholding that employers do withhold from net payment, there are the matching amounts that the employers pay directly to the government. This is matching direct payment is unrealized income, whether the citizen and bureaucrats understand it or not.
Income taxes are not voluntary, they are forcibly removed prior to our holding and in cases where they are not properly paid, penalized by fees, interest and potentially incarceration.
Harry, for not having enough sense to avoid insulting every captive taxpayer, you get the second Davis Cup of this week.

• For those of you familiar with GOPU, the Davis Cup title is named for the classically inappropriate Rob V. Davis.
• This is the second time Harry Reid has been proclaimed reviled winner of this award.

LA Ban on Homicide Pondered

In an interest of promoting peace the Los Angeles City Council voted on a 40 hour long moratorium on murder and violence. The intent was to use the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination as a impetus for beginning a non-violent trend.

Activists asked the city council to consider the resolution introduced
by member Richard Alarcon...

"A moratorium on violence and killing is something we should support 365
days a year and every minute we live,"

The council spent 45 minutes in debate before deciding that resolution was hollow and that a limit of 40 hours was non-sensical. If a moratorium can be put in place that shows the conviction of the city, why should it end after 40 hours, why shouldn't it be for 40 weeks or 40
years?

Council members had been asked by a handful of activists to declare a 40-hour ban on murder and other violence, a concept one critic quickly described as "silliness."

The whole charade prompted many to deride the effort as silliness. Joe Hicks, a former director of the city's Human Relations Commission said....

"I'm sure that the people who are doing the killing will hear that the council
is calling for a moratorium and then cease and desist,"
"It's more silliness from our wonderful City Council."

The real peace lovers didn't think it was so silly. Councilman Tony Cardenas made the angry retort...

"That's the kind of attitude that Martin Luther King had to step over and step
across to get the job done,"

These citizens from California are considered to be at the leading edge of national lawmaking. Maybe their progressive attitudes generate creative legislation, but not this time.

Wisteria

Or more accurately Wisteria sinensis is a climbing vine native to China. This time of year you can see the vines blooming all over Georgia. The flowers can be white, violet, or blue as shown above. The vines grow in a counter-clockwise pattern clinging to tree trunks, limbs, fences and dilapidated buildings.

The plants can live to be over a hundred years old.

The plants contain the toxin glycoside, ingestion can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

An invasive species but it sure look nice for a couple of weeks.

This picture was taken in Hartwell Georgia this past weekend, the vines have enveloped a deserted farmhouse.

Ted, This Tastes Like Chicken

In last Thursday's Atlanta Urinal Constipation there was a leading story containing Ted Turner's comments on global population growth. Mr. Turner stands squarely behind the opinion that the combination of global warming and population growth will lead to cannibalism.

"We're too many people; that's why we have global warming,"
"Too many people are using too much stuff."

Logical statements if you accept the premise, population drives energy use, energy production and usage generate heat, byproducts of energy production cause a the greenhouse effect, finally this insulating layer holds more heat against the planet.
The story written from an interview by PBS's Charlie Rose goes farther...

"If steps aren't taken to stem global warming, we'll be eight degrees hotter in
30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow,"
"Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals,"

One could argue that a warmer climate would increase the length of growing seasons, making production greater. The statement about cannibalism is ludicrous, in Africa where there are numerous food shortages, there is starvation but not common cannibalism. As harsh as is sounds, population does reach equilibrium.
Global warming is a scientifically disputed hypotheses. This is a hypothesis that extrapolates short term temperature variance into long term catastrophic results. Scientific study has demonstrated that temperature has fluctuated throughout measurable time with correlation to variations in solar radiation.
With the scientific explosion of the last 150 years, man has often overstated is permanent effect on nature. Just 35 years ago, some in the the scientific community were preaching that we were on the verge of a new ice age. Ted's interview is verbal crap on top of scientific crap. Ted Turner, the infamous "Mouth of the South" receives my Davis Cup Award for being an ass.
Ted, please just STFU.

Talk Too Much?

Created by OnePlusYou

Guess Who Said This

Every day the The Patriot Post sends an email that contains current events, quotations and related historical information. The Patriot Post identifies itself as a journal advocating individual liberty, and the restoration of constitutional limits on government. These publishers represent a renewed Federalist movement. Today there was this little item labelled "Insight"...

“There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs—partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

Now, who do you think made those comments? Rush Limbaugh? Thomas Sowell? No, it was Booker T. Washington. The famous black scientist-educator passed away over 90 years ago, the players have changed but the premise is indellible.