American City Suite

This afternoon our family is going to the beach for farewell Bruce would have liked.

4 games to 2

Last night the Celtics did it, winning the National Basketball Association title by crushing the Lakers by nearly forty. Congratulations to Paul Pierce, the smile on his face, having won the game and incidentally the MVP, helped the last decade disappear.
Seeing John Havlichek, Bill Russell, Jo Jo White and Cornbread Maxwell was a delightful treat. Seeing the family man, acquitted rapist, Kobe Bryant, loose, was priceless. Seeing Phil Jackson, zen coach and rider of Jordan's coattails, fail to pass Red in titles was proper.
Bruce would have really enjoyed this.

You Forgot About Whining

My brother Douglas may not have noticed but I have really tried to have a positive attitude toward salesmen. I could go for on for hours, but I will not. Can't help but like the cartoon though.

Supremes

On Thursday the Supreme Court, of the United States, and I say that with reservation, decided that habeas corpus applies to captured enemy combatants.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion for the slim 5 to 4 majority. In that it is was decided that an Algerian citizen, Lakhdar Boumediene, had rights to a habeas hearing before a federal judge. Boumediene was captured in Bosnia and has since been held in a remote corner of Cuba.
The capture in Bosnia is interesting, wasn't President Clinton in charge when NATO sent the troops? And the troops were still there years later to capture this enemy? I thought the the current president was the only one who committed troops for undetermined periods. All evidence to the contrary, let's see, there is Japan, Korea, and Germany. It seems like to build stable countries takes a long term commitment from a more stable country that possesses the resources to do so. So why do all the dimocrats, rino republicans and news community ignore reality? Because it fits their agenda, that is why.
Back to point. Basically the decision takes judgement away from the military and puts it into the federal system. The federal system has different rules for handling of evidence and testimony. These rules will make it more difficult prosecute the enemy.
In dissent Chief Justice Roberts suggested that the majority did not like the military tribunals because they were not "sanctified" by the court. Yet Kennedy has decreed that federals district court judges should derive their own ad hoc standards. Oh that's so much better, a trade of military procedure, reviewed by the Supreme Court by the way, for the opinion of whatever schmuck judge gets assigned. If those freakin assholes in California get involved we're screwed.
Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution contains a clause that says...

The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.

Kennedy says that we are not under invasion or rebellion, but in similar cases after WWII the Supremes agreed with military control of German spies that had aided the Japanese after the fall in Europe. At that time, 1950, Justice Jackson said that the Constitution was not a suicide pact.
Naturally the news services were pleased as punch that the Supremes bitch slapped the Bush administration. These people are so biased that rather see the country crippled than accept that Bush and all of his predecessors may have the greater wisdom.
Time can only tell how the military and the Bush administration figures a path for circumvention. You can trust that they will try because THEY have OUR back.

Cherry Tomatoes

About a month ago I bought a kit for growing vegetables inverted. Then went down to Barnes Hardware and bought a tomato plant. Should have read the label a little bit better because the little fruit only gets to be about an inch in diameter.

It's just as well, the main idea was to be fun for the three children next door. Today they were each able to pick a tomato, only one of which was ripe. Their mom said it was good.

John Elroy Sanford

In 1922 this man was born in St. Louis and grew up in Chicago. Sanford's mother was a half Seminole Indian, was abandoned by her husband when the boy was four. Schooled in Chicago John dropped out of high school and shortly thereafter moved to New York.
In New York the young man became an associate in crime with Malcolm Little. Both men had the nickname that included "Red" because the process used to flatten their hair turned it to a reddish color. Malcolm Little, after serving time in prison became Malcolm X, leader of US Muslims and assassinated by his own people in the early 1960's. Sanford's and Little's relationship is chronicled in Alex Haley's biography of Malcolm X.
Malcom X thought he was the funniest dishwasher on earth, and soon he began workingin nightclubs as a standup comedian. Soon he gave himself the stage name Redd Foxx , taking the surname from from baseball star Jimmie Foxx. A carreer that took him through standup, Las Vegas, movies and television, Redd Foxx found national appeal inthe sitcom "Sanford and Son". Redd played the role of Fred Sanford which was the actual name of John's older brother who had died.
Redd Foxx died in 1991 while working on a new television show with friend Della Reese.
So there you have it John Elroy Sanford = Redd Foxx.

"I'm coming, Elizabeth"

Blue Velvet

Released in 1986, this movie scored the director a second Academy Award. Screenplay and direction by David Lynch, this film jumps right into a creepy start with back ground music by none other than Bobby Vinton. Lynch's version of the movie was 4 hours long, to meet Laurentiis' length equirement, half of the length was deleted.
The actors....

• Kyle MacLachlan as Jeffrey Beaumont, son Tom Beaumont who breaks his neck watering his lawn. In the movie his mother is played by the same lady who plays Adam Sandler's grandmother in the movie Happy Gilmore. To me is feels like you have to call MacLachlan by his full name, not Jeff, or Jack, he just has this auro of having a stick in ass all the time.
• Isabella Rossellini plays Dorothy Vallens the singer femme fatale. Isabella is the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini. She has a twin sister, Isotta Ingrid Rossellini and was married for a few years to Martin Scorsese.
• Dennis Hopper plays Frank Booth in a role that recharged his acting career. Booth has strange sexual proclivities, which including erotic asphyxiation, fisting, dry humping and sadomasochism. His best line in the movie is.......

"Heineken? Fuck that shit, Pabst Blue Ribbon".

• Hope Lange as Mrs. Williams, the detective wife and Sandy's mother.
• Laura Dern plays Detective John Williams' daughter Sandy. Still very young, Dern had already played opposite Eric Stolz in the movie Mask. Sandy becomes Jeffrey's girlfriend.
• Dean Stockwell plays Ben, one of Frank Booth's partners. At one point Ben lip-syncs the Roy Orbison song In Dreams. I had no idea that Stockwell is 72 years old, older than my father. He has always had one of those hard to judge profiles. Stockwell started acting professionally in 1945, still active today over 60 years in the business.
• Brad Dourif as Raymond, one of Frank's henchmen. Dourif as played sick bastards in all sorts of movies for years and years. He was born 10 years to the day before me. Has had big parts in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Lord of the Rings: Tale of Two Towers and the crown jewel in the recurring role as teh voice of Chucky the killer doll.

Located in Lumberton North Carolina, a quiet papermill town. After visiting is father in the hospital Jeffery finds an unattached ear in a grassy field. Jeffery and Sandy, out of curiosity, decide investigate a woman that Sandy has heard her father discuss as a subject in the case of the ear. The duo decide to search Dorothy's apartment, Jeffrey is caught in her apartment and witnesses Booth's depraved treatment of Dorothy. When he is done with his business he tells her to stay alive, to do it for van Gogh. We soon find out that Booth has kidnapped Dorothy's husband and son in order to force her perform sexual acts, demented sexual acts. In their search for the ear clipper Jeffrey and Sandy become close, but honest because she has a jealous boyfriend. Pragmatically, Jeffrey is drawn to the tortured yet exotic Dorothy, she damaged by Booth welcomes his tenderness. In time Jeffrey and Frank become acquainted, the youngster coming away bruised and beaten. After the beating Jeffrey informs to the detective and plans a date with Sandy. The date turns sour when interrupts their date, naked and beaten. The interruption does change their feelings, Jeffrey and Sandy declare their love for one another. Jeffery, trying to be an honorable by protecting Dorothy, enters her apartment and finds the a crooked cop called the Yellow Man with Dorothy's one eared husband, both dead. Jeffrey starts to leave them there as he found them. Frank's place is raided by the police, following the tips that Jeffrey gave he detective, but Frank escapes and comes to the apartment. Jeffery, anticipating hides in the closet from the murderous man and shooots him through the head when face to face. To finish, Sandy and Jeffrey are together and Dorothy with her lttle boy.

Score 44 of 50, as good as film noir can be.

• Character development 9 out of 10. For depth of characters there is little to compare to Frank and Dorothy, both contrasted by Jeffrey and Sandy.
• Acting 8 out of 10. All fit in this stylistic movie, each absurd and each
• Photography, cinematography 8 of 10. Dark, mean, intense.
• Writing, script 9 out of 10. Frank Booth by himself gets you top marks.
• Concept 10 out of 10. Like the edge of a knife.

Son of Sam

Thirty years ago today, David Berkowitz, born Richard David Falco , was given a 25 years to life sentence for crimes that gave him the names Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer.
Berkowitz on capture confessed to killing seven and wounding six others between 1976 and 1977. He claimed to have been commanded to kill by a demon who possessed his neighbor's dog.
The neighbor's dog, that about says it all. Why doesn't the neighbor's dog tell his follower to clean up the crap he keeps leaving in my front yard?
In prison Berkowitz became a born again Christian, is involved in the prison ministry and has declined to pursue parole. Fortunately for the people of Brooklyn, the parole board agrees.
Check out the site, I think the conversion is sincere.

NBA Finals

Since the early 90's the Celtics have struggled, with exception of making the eastern conference final a few years back with Kenny Anderson at point, whom they promptly let go. Here are some points in the slide....

• Larry Bird who wasn't even a young rookie got old with a bad back.
• Robert Parish got old and retired.
• Kevin McHale retired and became general manager for the Timberwolves.
• Reggie Lewis died.
• Lenny Bias died.
• ML Carr was made general manager.
• Drafted Brad Lohaus from Iowa in the 1st round, and then made the mistake of signing him.
• Drafted Jon Barry from Georgia Tech in the 1st round and did not offer a fair contract, failing to sign the player.
• Rick Pitino was made coach and sucked big ones, banking on a bunch of Kentucky players.
• Having something like a 75% chance of getting the #1 pick in the Tim Duncan sweepstakes and missed out. I would have said stiffed but they did get Paul Pierce and Chauncy Billups.
• Let Chauncy Billups go for who knows what.

I enjoy this team but except for Pierce feel like they are a bunch of visitors. Garnett is talented with fantastic drive, but fear the Ray Allen is a choker. Gone are the days when even the bench Celtics were heroes in our New England town. Players like...

• Don Nelson, yes the coach.
• Jo Jo White, smooth
• Paul Silas, a rebounding stalwart.
• Nate Archiblad, another late career resurrection.
• Bill Walton who while he was a mercenary seemed to mesh.
• Rick Robey, from Kentucky but a good basher.
• Dennis Johnson, came over from Seattle where he had already one a title but remembered for his good defense primarily against Magic.

And the obvious players....

• John Havlichek, played at Ohio State with Bob Knight, never stopped moving.
• KC Jones, later coach for the Bullets and Celtics.
• Sam Jones, the great guard.
• Satch Sanders, later coach for the Celtics.
• Bill Russel, not Wilt but Red would not have swapped.
• Bob Cousy, who I never saw play, but remember well being as being the example to play like, a smart passer.

It will probably drive my bride nuts but I'll be watching the finals this year.
Here the game in the 4th quarter, Celtics are up by 4, the announcers, which include Jon Barry, mentioned that Ted Kennedy was recovering while watching the game. Thanks a so much for reminding me that I agree with that fat bastard.

Is That A Compliment?

For the second time, yesterday morning, my boss's boss, impressed with my solution to a problem said...

That John has a head on him like a bastard cat.

Now I know from checking after the first time that this is a compliment, but being an insecure sort it is a compliment that triggers the thought that it is an insult. If anybody has heard this before could you please tell me what the origin is?

Recognition

Last summer we had pictures of my son's Eagle Scout project. After about a half dozen review meetings, he has finally reached the goal started while in elementary school. We should have a party.

Clean Underwear

This story was in today's Atlanta Urinal and Constipation, contributed by one of the national news services.
What was you first thought, how silly they looked, or were the thongs clean?
Just think, the string could double as floss.
Sounds like a fraternity prank.

After Hours

Another movie from the eighties. Released in 1985, written by Joseph Minion and directed by Martin Scorsese, is rated R and lasts 97 minutes.

The plot is about a single night in the life of a corporate computer geek, passing time after work in an uptown diner reading Tropic of Cancer, a pretty girl entices this lonely man into a chaotic SoHo evening. Under the auspices of buying a bagel and creme cheese sculpture, Paul visits the girl he just met in the diner. Marcy's odd behavior eventually make Paul run for the bushes, he then begins a journey through the streets of SoHo, systematically and innocently causing every person he meets to become part of a vigilante mob wanting to bash him to bits. Paul ends up escaping in a body cast of paper mache stolen by Pepe and Neil. Being the inept thieves that only Cheech and Chong can play, the body cast falls out of their van during the dawn getaway, the cast breaks open in the street right in front of Paul's business. He goes to work and the movie is over.
Griffin Dunne plays Paul Hackett, the lead roll of the movie. Paul is the
geek that needs excitement in his life and gets more that he could imagine. I had forgotten that Dunne was in the movie An American Werewolf in London. Griffin is the son of writer-producer Dominic Dunne and sister of the deceased Dominique Dunne, actress known from the movie Poltergeist and murdered by a stalker in 1983.

Rosanna Arquette plays Marcy Franklin, this movie is early in her career and her fresh young beauty contrasted by the tattooed+pierced role in Pulp Fiction. Of course she is no less screwed up.

Tommy Chong plays Pepe, a bit part threaded through the movie and a the SOHO Neighborhood burglars.

Linda Fiorentino as Kiki Bridges the punk styled sculptress who is lending a room to Marcy. Fiorentino sure is a good looking lady.

Teri Garr as Julie, the cocktail waitress stuck in the sixties and just a little bit needy.

John Heard plays Thomas 'Tom' Schorr, bartender and as we later find, boyfriend of Marcy. I suppose that the name was inspired by the famous Toots Schorr. Heard has been in many movies and television serials, his recent role on the Sopranos epitomized depravity and depression.

Cheech Marin plays Neil, Pepe's burglar partner. Comic relief.

Catherine O'Hara play Gail, the Mr Softee truck driver. O'Hara has been in may offbeat movies over the years, a favorite of mine being A Mighty Wind.

Score 31 of 50, long ago I enjoyed this movie, not knowing that it was directed by the master. Every movie Scorsese does is good.

• Character Development 5 out of 10. Not much in the way of development but long look at the lack of development.
• Acting 7 out of 10. This is a very good cast in a movie that appeared to be fun to make. If you look close you can see Scorsese in the nightclub scene, shining the spotlight.
• Photography, cinematography 7 of 10. Interesting , it is fun to see the director's love of the city.
• Writing, script 6 out of 10. Very good characters.
• Concept 6 out of 10. A lot of fun.