UNEXPECTED -- BASSEY & BOND -- ALLERGIES

 Republic -- "If you can keep it."  [Democracy]

     Accountability for Jan. 6 insurrection

U.S. Select House Committee on Jan. 6th Hearings

Thursday, October 13, 2022 -- 1:00pm ET (10am PT)

QUESTION:  Why has our ex-President DJT kept classified government documents and continues to do so as the Department of Justice reports believing he is still doing?

The James Bond movie series celebrates 60 years anniversary 2022.

"Dame Shirley closes the 2011 Classic Awards Show (May 12, 2011) by paying tribute to John Barry.  ... Goldfinger was co-written by John Barry, Leslie Bricussee, Don Black and Anthony Newley.  Bassey is the UKs most successful female recording artist of all time, with 140 Million records sold worldwide!"  (Read more at this YouTube site HERE.)

Shirley Bassey -- GOLDFINGER (2011 Live)

Unexpected events keep intruding into my life including some thought to be previously resolved.

Once again would you believe I was subjected to having to contact my phone company's customer service number?  That's the number I described in my previous post.  The call reaches a recorded message explaining how unusually busy they are, so they offer a call back service when an agent is available.  That sounds customer oriented.  Surprise!  No agent is available.  

Instead I hear the same recorded message, we're busy, so sorry, we'll be with you soon, but no callback offer this time.  I had to hold a whole hour before a live agent answered.  This process is a real joke and an insult to the customer.  They could at least not call back until there is an agent available.  

I don't understand what sort of cockamamie system this phone company has -- it certainly isn't geared to caring about their customers and reflects poorly on them.

Another inconvenience two weeks ago when I went out to my car only to discover what I thought must be a dead battery which the emergency service person later confirmed.  He simply jumped the battery, and I was soon able to drive away.  

My car isn't driven as much as in the past, and not necessarily every day as I told him.  This accounts for why I encountered this older battery dead again this past week.  The different service company replaced the old battery with a new one.  There was still a one month guarantee on the old battery so the new one was free. 

Why didn't the first guy replace my battery, especially since he said it was over five years old?  I hadn't checked but I told him  I thought it was newer than that.  The new service man reported the old battery had been installed in 2019.   Maybe the first guy wasn't good at math.

Also, several weeks ago I started experiencing itchy, eventually hot red inflamed swollen areas on various finger and arm areas of my body.  These were not rashes or even like hives which can indicate an allergic reaction.  Conferring virtually with family I learned one of them had at one time experienced much the same symptoms that were diagnosed as angioedema.  

Reading some reliable medical internet sites I am inclined to believe this is what I have caused by an allergy.  A fruit is named which I rarely have eaten until recently when I ate three over a one-week period.  I immediately stopped eating that fruit and my symptoms went away.  

I had several more of the fruits on hand but thought I couldn't be quite sure that fruit was the culprit.   I decided to eat one earlier this past week to see what happened.  A few days after I ate that kiwi the symptoms appeared again.  I'm more convinced now that the kiwis are the cause of my apparent allergic reaction which I'm still experiencing as I write this.  Nothing else has recently been new in my life or my diet.

Light-skinned people (I'm a redhead) can be susceptible to some medical issues so perhaps this is one for me.  My body could never tolerate highly seasoned foods such as with some raw onions and hot peppers until I was in my mid-twenties.  Even now I still best take some care.  

I've eaten strawberries in great quantities much of my life though I know they can cause allergies for some people.  Given that I am a confessed strawberry addict I'm grateful to be able to safely indulge that berry addiction without any problem.

Allergies can be really troublesome, even life threatening for people.  I recall the last commercial flight I took some years ago eating a nut mix I had brought from home in a small plastic bag.  The stewardess came to me to ask that I put them away since there was a passenger with a peanut allergy.  She then went on to say, "That's why we didn't distribute any peanuts."  It almost seemed as though she thought I should have known.  

Certainly, I was more than willing to put away my nuts which weren't peanuts and wouldn't have gotten them out to eat had I known the situation.  They hadn't announced they weren't distributing peanuts, but then I didn't know they typically did as not all airlines did.  I glanced around and saw a young girl wearing a mask (this was before Covid) in the seat behind the ones across the aisle from me.

I recall a family friend contemporary of my mother.  She was allergic to some foods, citrus, also monosodium glutamate.  The family ceased eating at restaurants as in those years MSG was used much more prevalently than in more recent years.  She was a marvelous cook even of foods she could not eat but never used MSG in what she prepared.

She lived to 103 years of age.  When she was in her 80s or 90s she began to be able to eat some of the foods, such as citrus, she had not been able to tolerate before.  Our bodies are certainly functionally complex and change in numerous ways over time.  

People can develop allergies to all sorts of foods and other substances.  You likely know this from your own experience or what you know of others.  

CAR CULTURE -- TAKEOVERS -- SPEED

 Republic -- "If you can keep it." [Democracy]

     Accountability for Jan. 6 insurrection

U.S. Select House Committee on Jan. 6th Hearings continue in the fall.

U.S. Dept. of Justice and FBI deserving of respect for doing their jobs.

QUESTION:  What possible justifiable reason could explain why an ex-President would take highly classified, even top-secret documents to his home when his term in office ended -- then keep them though instructed to return them, subsequently his lawyers even lying he had returned them all?

TAKEOVERS

Events in Los Angeles have caused me to think about automobiles, speed, and the attraction they hold for a segment of our population.  Some  communities in California have been besieged with what are called 'street takeovers' angering residents where they occur and creating other more serious problems.  These illegal affairs can occur at any time of day or night.  

Imagine being awakened by auto engine roaring sounds, some vehicles without mufflers, in the middle of the night with the various car induced odors of exhaust smoke and burning rubber permeating your home.

Groups of people gather about various streets to view these show-off drivers circling at high speed, 'burning rubber', doing 'donuts' which leaves their tire marks on the street.  Tires squealing, exhaust smoke fuming, braked cars skidding about, sometimes into the onlooking crowd, occasionally injuring some, a few even dying.  These cars and drivers are sometimes arrested though frequently they have dispersed before law enforcement can arrive at the scene.  

Recently, the $588 million Sixth Street Viaduct, the largest bridge project, 3,500 foot long, in the history of Los Angeles became the city's newest attraction.  Locals enthusiastically were walking, skating, biking there on opening day since it was closed to automobile traffic on that occasion.  

Los Angeles Newest Attraction: 6th Street Bridge -- Yellow Production:  The 6th Street Bridge connects Boyle Heights to the Los Angeles Arts District with some amazing views of the downtown Los Angeles skyline along the way."

Subsequently, those street takeovers began happening on the bridge necessitating law enforcement and city officials to devise ways to end them.  Initially the bridge was shut down for a period of time.  Later, they installed some round speedbumps but they ceased to be a deterrent.  The final solution is yet to be announced though the takeovers seem to have lulled for now.  Some have suggested a divider in the middle of the street should have been installed as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco has, since no takeover problems on that bridge.

6th STREET BRIDGE SHUT DOWN BY LAPD /NBCLA

Some people have suggested these auto street takeovers are a consequence of people imitating a "Fast and Furious" movie that premiered in 2001, continuing through the years with subsequent features.  Last week scenes for the franchise's 10th installment, "Fast X" was shot.  This Variety article link features a photo of the street scene created by these cars and describes the complaints numerous residents in that area have.  Note:  the film shoot was completed as planned.

Here's another takeover blocking traffic on the new bridge not involving cars.

.

Time will tell in the future when and how these street takeover problems are resolved.

But then, there are also people climbing on the arches, taxpayer costs for removing graffiti.

CAR CULTURE

Early in the 1970's when we moved to Southern California I became aware of the car culture and what they call lowriders.  I must confess to not seeing the utility of converting these autos into being able to perform acrobatics, much less investing so much money into those cars.  Probably there are lots of other non-car hobbies people have that may not seem to make sense either.  Whatever gives a person pleasure, I guess.  Given there's a demand for these lowriders, apparently money can be made with them.  I must admit the plush-looking interiors and fancy colorful exterior paint is quite fancy and even attractive on some.

Lowriders TAKE OVER Whittier Blvd!  Los Angeles, California

I was never interested in most car activities, like auto races that attract many people, or events where vehicles deliberately crash into one another.  My cousin, now deceased, was disappointed when we were young and I declined to go to hot rod racing events with him.  

Recent years, a lifelong friend, also deceased now, had told me her sons are into mud bogging with big trucks -- definitely not appealing to me.  They have even created their own site on which to indulge in their pastime.  When the boys were little, I remember her three young sons playing with Tonka trucks in a dirt and sand pile in their back yard.  I think it's interesting they graduated to the real big trucks and started a successful gardening business when they became adults that prospers today.  

Speed in vehicles doesn't give me a thrill as some say they feel.  I do recall purchasing my second car, a used Plymouth, when I was in my mid-twenties, taking it out on a country road one day.  I don't know what prompted me to do this but I pressed the 'pedal to the metal' driving over this roller coaster paved country road going over 100 mph, then the car stalled.

I was out of gas -- the only time I've had a car ever run out of gas in all my presently continuing driving years.  I had just passed a farmhouse, so could easily walk back where I  encountered a very pleasant accommodating farmer who gave me enough gas to power my car back to town.  I'm surprised he was so nice because he must have seen me flying by his house and probably wouldn't have thought too highly of anyone traveling that two-lane road at such a rate of speed.  

'Running out of gas' in quite a different way is an expression with which I readily identify the older I become, but we won't get into that right now.

I might add, I've never been automobile obsessed as I perceive some to be, much less attracted to speed.  Also, I don't like noise, so I've always disliked the revving roaring motor sounds of all kinds of cars and motorcycles.  I guess the sound signifies power to some but it's just plain noise to me.

What will the future bring if we get rid of the combustion engine?   Our California Air Resources Board approved new regulations requiring 35% of new cars sold in our state to be electric vehicles by 2026 -- 100% by 2035.  Our California Governor Gavin Newson announced this week he plans to eliminate sales of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. I've heard news reports that as a safety measure for pedestrians that auto manufacturers are designing ways give electric cars sound because they run quite silently.  

Whadda yew think about all this car business I've brought up in this latest epistle I've written?

FOGEL QUESTION -- MOVIES -- AGE DISCRIMINATION.

DEMOCRACY -- "If you can keep it."  Accountability needed for Jan. 6 insurrection.     U.S. Select House Committee on January 6th Hearings will continue in the fall.

QUESTION:  Why does gaining the release of a basketball star erroneously held and a former U.S. Marine accused of being a spy seem to take precedence over the release of a teacher, Marc Fogel, wrongfully being held by Russia, appearing to be ignored?  Is life fair?

Read Washington Post link about teacher Marc Fogel HERE.

Read Reuter's link about "Americans Held Captive Abroad" HERE.

MOVIES STARRING 'SEASONED' ACTORS

Movies with story lines featuring older characters are few.  When I was viewing Amanpour & Co. on PBS (Thursday 7/28, Season 5, Episode 20) HERE.   I was surprised to see a couple of actually older actors being interviewed promoting their new movie.  These two critically acclaimed actors have appeared in numerous movies but primarily as character actors though never together before.  Now, here were a couple of older actors in a movie about older people.

Dale Dickey, link HERE, award winner, has played mostly hard tough women in theatre, television, movies including "Winter's Bone", "No Exit".

Wes Studi, link HERE, producer, musician, actor, Oscar winner, is a Native American Cherokee Indian.  He has frequently been cast in western movies including "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee", "Dances With Wolves".

These talented actors have been cast as the romantic leads in this rare film about a "seasoned" (of a certain age) man and woman meeting again for the first time since their young school age years.  The backdrop of open western skies above rugged Colorado mountains, lakes, solitude offers spectacular scenery as seen based on the film preview.

I have not seen the movie but this Independent Film's reviews are positive from the New York Times to Rotten Tomatoes 5 star rating. The Curvy Film Critic's review there expresses a point of view with which I agree:  "It was more than wonderful to witness Dale Dickey and Wes Studi as romantic leads while screaming to Hollywood zeitgeist of green lighting gremlins that audiences need more stories with folks that look like a regular old people..."

A LOVE SONG /Official Trailer/Bleecker Street

"THE DUKE", another movie with a couple of "old people" I have yet to view but look forward to seeing is based on a true story of a "humane thief" in what has been described as a "dramedy".  The movie stars, favorites of mine, Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent.  Broadbent's character says:  "Will return painting if provide more help for elderly."  

THE DUKE (2022) OFFICIAL TRAILER [HD]

"THE LAST MOVIE STARS", a movie series I eventually will get around to viewing.  This film is considered to be a documentary of the lives of actors Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward, the past performances of both I've enjoyed.

THE LAST MOVIE STARS /Official Trailer/ HBO Max

AGE DISCIMINATION

There are numerous other older even more well-known "seasoned" stars whose acting prowess I enjoy viewing, especially some of the women since the male actors seem to appear in more roles whatever their age.  Some of these women are Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Shirley MacLaine are just a few that immediately come to my mind.

Perhaps we might ask are their writers producing entertaining older people's stories?  Are their screen writers creating stories for films?  

Maybe you know some older people's stories that would make a good movie or you could even write one?

GEEZER FLICKS

I'm reminded of deceased blogger Ronni Bennett's blog "Time Goes By"  (still accessible on the net) with a link there to "GEEZER FLICKS" or HERE for an extensive list of films she and readers there compiled.  The last film addition in 2020 before closed to comments.

MOVIES FOR GROWNUPS (AARP)

An ongoing list of movies is provided by AARP  HERE which also includes movies starring older actors and some story lines about older people's lives.  The first awards were in 2002. 

MOVIE SCREENING FREE -- AARP offers a free movie screening HERE.

TV FOR GROWNUPS -- AARP had recommendations HERE.

This is the end of the line for what I have to write this time.  Now it's your turn.  

CODA -- LADY GAGA -- RESPECT OLDER PEOPLE

Some of the more recent noteworthy Academy Award Oscar winners and nominees have been over-shadowed by a now notorious face slapping  event.  One such Oscar was the best motion picture award (reviewed by the New York Times) to CODA  (child of deaf adults) -- a first major award for a film with a predominantly deaf cast.

The social uproar occurred with the recent Hollywood Academy Awards of the Oscars when the best actor prior to his award being announced unexpectedly walked on stage, slapped hard the comedian host for making a joke about the actor's wife.  Once the actor returned to his seat, he proceeded to utter a few curse word threats warning the comedian not to mention his wife's name.  All for which the actor ultimately apologized later.

Given that the comedian's joke referred to the actor's wife's bald head, which is due to a medical condition, I am of the view these type jokes should be off limits.  Making jokes about people who have a medical condition seems more than inappropriate to me to say the least -- such as how they look, walk, talk, react, and more.  Not known is if the comedian knew the wife shaved her head because of a medical condition, though this was public knowledge.  There  still is no excuse for the actor's actions.

The actor's reaction, after I observed him initially laughing at the joke, was quite an illegal physical assault on the comedian for which the actor could and, perhaps, should have been arrested on the spot, removed from the premises, and maybe even jailed.  How the whole situation was handled is another issue I won't even discuss further here.  There still was no excuse for the actor's behavior.

If an individual has a medical condition which they are comfortable publicly discussing and choose to laugh at or make jokes about, then that makes such humor about themselves more acceptable but not otherwise in my opinion.

*. *. *

Liza Minnelli, celebrating the 50th anniversary of "Cabaret", the film that earned her an Oscar for best actress years ago, presented the best picture final award in spite of the adverse effects she was experiencing from medical problems.

Lady Gaga was a class act keeping the presentation going by assisting Ms Minnelli without ever being patronizing or awkward.   She, Liza, was enabled to retain her dignity despite the variety of medical issues that have challenged her functional abilities in recent years.

Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli present Best Picture Oscars 2022.  ABC Live

My years as a Speech-Language Pathologist I worked with a rehabilitation team of other therapy disciplines and medical professionals.   Though I initially trained and planned to work with children who had severely disordered language, I evolved into working primarily with  adult patients of all ages but mostly older adults, in hospitals, eventually in long term  care including skilled nursing in my later years of practice.

I encountered individuals with many varying medical diagnoses that included a broad variety of communication, swallowing, cognitive and related difficulties, some such as Ms Minnelli has encountered.  In every instance with all patients, whatever the diagnoses,  their retaining personal dignity and being respected by all professionals, family members, friends, and any others they might encounter has been a vital element in enabling them as human beings to optimize achieving their highest potential functioning level of which they are capable at any given point in time. 

They and all of us want little more for ourselves than respect and dignity, too, even if our only issues are that we've become old.  Maybe we've reached an age we tire more easily.  Perhaps we're less able than we once were in some functional areas ... vision or hearing not as sharp ... thinking sequentially a little slower ... recall sometimes short-circuited ... some words not always available ... feeling overwhelmed occurring more readily ... walking not as fast or far, or not at all.  We may occasionally make mistakes in our words or speech that are not over-looked by some others as similar errors when we were younger that we laughed about then.   

So it is, that I've been so impressed with Lady Gaga as she has shared the stage with Tony Bennett who has Alzheimer's and now Liza Minnelli coping with her own, but different challenges.

Here's Liza in her prime singing the title song ... in the 1972 movie "Cabaret" of that Broadway show.  The setting is:

"Berlin, 1931.  As Nazism rises in Germany, flamboyant American Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) sings in a decadent nightclub and falls in love with a British language teacher (Michael York) ... [this] carefree, tolerant and fragile cabaret world is about to be crushed under the boot of the Nazis as Berlin becomes a trap from which Sally"s German friends will not escape".

That government's oppression and Russia's behavior toward Ukraine today is what an autocracy offers that all should remember come elections in our own and other countries.  Be not fooled by lying autocrats with their appeasers appearing to be different with promises of enrichment for all.

Perhaps you have some thoughts about some of the topics I've mentioned?

POSSIBILITIES ONCE, MAY NOT BE LIKELY NOW

I don't recall my age or the year I realized and accepted that some activities I had always imagined I would experience some day, that I never would, such as visiting Paris, Scotland to name a couple foreign locations.  I have always had an appetite not even remotely fulfilled for travel to sites and continents away from my own.

I did fly to South America's Ecuador where I had never even thought about going or imagined I would visit, but leaped when the opportunity was presented.  Taking advantage of such situations when they occur is wise even if sudden schedule and life adjustments may be necessary.  I had to borrow money for the trip from the bank where I was then working in the loan department. 

An unscheduled stop occurred in Jamaica on the flight there.  I made a quick deplane just to say I'd been there before re-boarding to continue the flight.  My return flight had an unexpected stop in Peru where the most strikingly handsome and beautiful golden-skinned couple I have ever seen in my life boarded our plane.  I'll always wonder who they were.

Years later after I wed, I learned my husband was much more enamored with traveling in the U.S.   He said there was so much here that we had never seen.   So, we stayed primarily on this continent, did go to Hawaii but didn't get to Alaska and enjoyed only a limited Niagara Falls trip into Canada.  An anticipated further exploration north of our border never materialized, regrettably.  

Mexico visits were few, but simply walking across the border, except for once when I convinced my husband to drive over.  Thoughts of driving the Pan American Highway intrigued me.  I learned later the highway was incomplete in many places and little more than a dirt road in others as I rode on in Ecuador. 

This trip with my husband was a very brief intrusion into Mexico.  He was  unfamiliar with the Spanish language so turned on to a street with a sign that probably had said the street was closed to traffic for repairs.  I had studied French so was no help.  A workman running toward us, shouting, frantically waving his arms, conveyed our presence was a mistake. His behavior quickly convinced my husband to turn the car around and drive back across the border to the U.S. before we had an accident or got arrested.  The workman probably muttered to his colleagues, "Those loco gringos don't know how to drive!"

Early years before our children were born, we took a few short cross-country flights he privately piloted that were compensating pleasures to foreign travel for me then.  Many scenic drives through numerous states, plus visits to our U.S. national park system and monuments offered a bounty of attractions.   We were unable to visit as many Parks as we had hoped, especially when his declining health in later years altered those expectations.  Lengthy cross country scenic train trips in the U.S. and Canada about which we mused never could become a reality.

All of this came to mind when I recently checked my KCET Public Television Station's (PBS) weekly Friday night movie.  I always wanted to visit Scotland which I learned was the evening's 1983's movie's setting.  I was in the mood for a movie with some beautiful scenery and a light entertaining story line.  No record of Scottish ancestors had been found among those of mine so efficiently researched a few years ago by blogger/researcher Judy at "Onward and Upward -- Ever Forward".   I remain convinced there may be some forefathers preceding those whose identity was named in my English/European background.  

"Local Hero was filmed in several locations around Scotland.   Most of the Ferness village scenes were filmed in Pennan on the Aberdeenshire coast and most of the beach scenes at Morar and Arisaig on the west coast" reported by Wikipedia.

Here's the original 1983 "Local Hero" movie trailer:

Here's a more extensive current link to sites with color photos of film locations offered at "Almost Ginger" by blogger Rebecca Sharp "twenty-something avid cinephile and traveller, as well as a minimalist, optimist, Hufflepuff and proud ginger."  Corrected link to "Almost Ginger".

So, I viewed "Local Hero" -- lovely country and beach scenes, subtle ideas and all that you might enjoy from a Criterion Collection of films I recommend.  Here's some of what Criterion said about the film:

"Bill Forsyth put Scottish cinema on the map with this delightfully eccentric culture-clash comedy.  Riffing on popular representations of Scottish life and folklore, Local Hero follows the Texas oil executive Mac (Peter Riegert), who is dispatched by his crackpot boss (Burt Lancaster) to a remote seaside village in Scotland with orders to buy out the town and develop the region for an oil refinery.  But as business mixes with pleasure, Mac finds himself enchanted by both the picturesque community and its oddball denizens---and Texas starts to feel awfully far away.  Packed with a near nonstop stream of droll one-liners and deadpan gags, this enchanting cult hit finds Forsyth surveying the idiosyncrasies of small-town life with the satirical verve of a latter-day Preston Sturges, arriving at a sly commentary on conservation, corporate greed, and the legacies we leave behind."

An interesting 2019 essay by Jonathan Murray includes:

"Bill Forsyth is Scotland's most famous filmmaker, and Local Hero (1983) is his most famous film---for many, the true subject of Local Hero's title is the Glasgow-born writer-director himself."

Perhaps you have also concluded some once anticipated activities are no longer likely to occur for you during your lifetime.

LUCKY ? -- FATHER'S DAY -- JUNETEENTH

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all those great Dad's that many are fortunate enough to have, or had in their lives.  I'm pretty sure from all accounts both of my grandfathers were great Dads.  Unfortunately, my grandfathers had departed this earth before I was born or had a chance to know them.

JUNETEENTH DAY was declared an official national holiday beginning the 19th.  The commemoration recognizes the final end of slavery, that hadn't been established in every state until two years after Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 during the Civil War.

LUCKY ?    

Are some people luckier than others?  

Lucky is said by some to stress chance bringing about a favorable result.   

One online library definition differentiates between chance and luck.  

"Chance-oriented persons decide according to given or estimated odds that define the decision problem.

"Luck-oriented persons, on the other hand, rely on self-attributions of personal luck, and ignore the probabilities of decision outcomes"

Luck is often associated with gain or loss through gambling which I think must be a luck-oriented activity.   On the other hand, some forms of gambling as offered at casinos are said to offer a greater chance at winning than others.   The slot machines, which are the only games I've ever played in casinos, I understand to offer the least chance of winning.   

Drawings winning odds can vary based on the number of entries.  Possibly the least chance of winning a drawing can be found in some of the various U.S. state lotteries that have been offered in recent decades.  The potential $$$ winnings can be very attractive despite the odds. 

I think I'm basically a chance-oriented person although my occasional drawing participations and slot machine gambling may carry an element of being luck-oriented, though I didn't seriously expect to win.  (Maybe my lack of believing I would win adversely affected my odds -- introducing another element).  Of course, my slot machine gambling and years past friendly poker-playing card games occasionally with family members and friends had been for fun.  

I've never considered myself to be unusually lucky when it comes to casino gambling or in drawings.  I have won two drawings in my life.  One when I was in my twenties soon after I had purchased my first car.  The nearby newly opened Gulf gas station I had begun frequenting had a drawing (obviously only few entries) where I won a boy's bicycle.  I sold it.

Many years later after moving to the west I entered a drawing at a local news stand/video rental store I occasionally visited.  I was surprisingly delighted to win a transistor radio, especially since they were not inexpensive as the latest new tech device of the time before personal computers.   Months later my enjoyment was short-lived when our house was broken into with the thieves stealing my radio along with a journal gifted to me in which I had just started writing.  

I recall many years ago, soon after I was wed, attending the annual meeting of a business organization associated with my husband's work then.  Before we joined the other three owners and their wives at our table, my husband mentioned to me that the wife of one of the senior owners seemed to be uncannily lucky and just about always won when they had drawings.  Sure enough, from the hundred or more people present her name was drawn for one of the prime prizes.

Then, there are the gamblers like Marlon Brando's character who sang "Luck Be A Lady Tonight" in the movie version of the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls". 

An acquaintance recently told me of her experiences going to the casinos with her much more affluent younger sister who she believes to be especially lucky.  Their most recent visit the "lucky" sister won some big bucks though my acquaintance is the one who really could have used the financial boost.   Her sister did share a portion of her winnings though my acquaintance said she was reluctant to accept the generosity since she wasn't inclined to accept such gifts.   

A friend of mine seems to have the magic touch when it comes to slot machines.  They've occasionally traveled to casinos, including Las Vegas for years during visits to family residing there.  They usually stop in a casino before returning home.  She, but not her husband, generally wins enough in only a short time to minimally gain the cost of their trip -- driving expenses, hotel bills if they've chosen to stay in one which they frequently do, dining out costs, and sometimes even more on their overnight or several day jaunts.  They have no really big wins but rare are the occasions when she hasn't won enough to cover all their travel outlay.  

Those are a few examples of individuals who may be considered to meet the criteria of some for being "lucky" that come to my mind.  

Do some people you know seem to be luckier than others?

Do you think you are a more chance or luck-oriented person?  

THE FUTURE -- CLAIRE ROTHENBUHLER TRIBUTE

So many vital matters relative to sustaining life and freedom happening as our nation’s leader  creates chaos, allegedly fosters corruption and insanity with too many poorly qualified incompetent subordinates,  defies common sense, rejects scientific facts, appears to consider citizen lives expendable, mouths crocodile tears over health care workers for whom many believe he has not taken adequate actions to provide PPE, allows the travesty of inadequate Covid-19 tests lacking accuracy, promotes like a snake oil salesman a vaccine timeline if met could potentially have questionable reliability, is supported by politicians or legislators, not statespersons, who lack the courage to question him or their other leaders, but I will resist writing about all these matters this time. 

Some aspects of life in this day of the Covid-19 virus do seem like we’re going back to the future.  Remember that 1985 science fiction adventure comedy movie starring Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd?   Fox is a teenager, Marty McFly, who travels back in time from 1985 to 1955 where he meets his future parents.  

I recall my life in the eighties had been so harried and hectic there had been no time for my attending movies for several years.  My young son began prevailing upon me to see this film saying he just knew I would like this story.  So, we went to that movie which he was thoroughly enjoying seeing for the second time – he was so right – I delighted in the movie, too!  

Years later, in real life, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s which may have altered his acting career, but he has continued appearing admirably in a number of entertaining TV series roles and promotes finding a cure for this disease. 

My cousin’s husband, Walter Rothenbuhler, had his career -- University teaching and research in the genetics of bees for which he received international recognition -- cut short at his peak by Parkinson’s.   He once told me the first indication he had a problem occurred in his speech when he was lecturing one of his classes.  I still have a small piece of beeswax left that he gave my mother decades earlier when she bemoaned her sewing thread fraying and tangling during the WWII shortage due to the war effort.  Walter served in the military, but during WWII, beeswax was so much in demand for coating planes and weapons that some beekeepers were deferred from service. 

Walter died in 2002, his wife Claire died May 3 this year, age 95.  Family who ordinarily visited many times daily sadly were no longer able to do so her final days due to the Covid-19 quarantine.  I had last enjoyed a lengthy visit with her four years ago.  She was the last older family member I still had living with whom to reminisce.   She was warm, friendly, loving, a very accomplished person who treasured family, 4 children, and also taught chemistry when she and Walter were at Iowa State and Ohio State Universities.  Claire will be remembered by many.  She will be missed.   

Many years after Walter died, I recall one particular patient with Parkinson’s I provided swallowing therapy who had been the recipient of a brain stimulation implant which was new then.  Some benefits occurred for him and I couldn’t help wishing this had been available for my family member those years ago.  Fox has had some brain surgery, is said to want no more, but later he is reported to have had spinal surgery after a fall slowing his plans to return to planned television series. 

Today, some communities are going back to the future with the re-emergence of drive-in restaurants with car hops – usually young girls who deliver food and beverage orders to individual cars.  Some drive-ins years ago had car hop girls on roller skates though I was never served by any skaters.    

Drive-in movie theaters were once very popular, reported to number in 4000 with only about 300 remaining now.    Existing drive-ins, a few still here in Southern California, have taken on new life in these viral days with social distancing.  People must remain in their individual cars, thus easily maintaining the recommended distance from other patrons while enjoying a large screen movie much like the indoor experience.   

The sound quality has been improved since I last attended a drive-in movie.  They have done away with those boxes we hung on our windows for the sound.  We can still utilize our  individual car radio system now if we don’t mind draining our car battery.  Talkie Man describes a preferable alternative system: 

“Modern drive-in movies use FM transmitters to transmit the audio from the movie to the folks watching.”  Antenna on a quality portable FM radio “....can give you the full-on immersive audio with sound effects you’d expect from a cinema”.

The last drive-in movie I recall our family attended was nearby, but that screen and parking area has long since been replaced by a shopping center.   We saw the movie “Star Wars” so the nighttime outdoor setting was most fitting since the screen bled into a sky filled with stars – just a visual extension of many of the film’s space scenes.  Reminiscing with my now adult children recently I learned the movie made more of an impression on me than them.  They reclined on their tummies in our station wagon, peering through the windshield over the seat back, awake throughout the whole film, but not as impressed as I was apparently.  

Years later when my granddaughter was a teenager, I located one of the few drive-in theaters remaining in our area on one of their visits.   My daughter and I took her to the drive-in movie so she could have the experience before such venues became extinct.  I don’t recall now what movie we saw as it was quite unimpressive, but then that hadn’t been the point of our going there. 

Television home screens video and audio can be so large with such high quality now, I think most people might prefer the convenience of just staying at home to traipsing off to a drive-in unless the feature was one they couldn’t expect to see elsewhere any time soon.   

Would you want to go to a drive-in movie now in these shelter-at-home days?   
Do you have memories of any drive-in movie experiences 
     – at least any that you would want to share here?  
Are there any drive-in theaters remaining where you live, or do you even know

LOVE, MUSICIANS, MOVIES

This Valentines month brings to mind a couple of current movies depicting romance, musicians and love with stories and casts especially focused on older individuals.   

“QUARTET” takes place in a very select community for retired operatic musicians portrayed by a delightful cast including Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly and Michael Gambon.    I recently thoroughly enjoyed viewing this movie which elicited audience laughter along with appreciation of some serious  more matter-of-fact aging issues.   

  

“AMOUR” focuses on a couple who are retired music teachers, apartment-dwellers, whose story evolves from the past into their present world.  The actors reportedly provide excellent performances many reviewers report.     Comments I’ve read reveal the movie depicts issues many encounter in real life.   Story events stimulate a wide range of emotions impacting viewers differently.    I’ve not yet seen this movie which has yet to open at our local theater.        

       

Your thoughts and reactions to these movies are welcome.

Lena Horne Remembered

Lena Horne died May 9, 2010 at age 92. I've always greatly admired her as a jazz singer, movie actress and performer. One of her most appealing qualities to me was her fierce independence. I never saw her perform in person but would have welcomed such an opportunity. She was outspoken becoming very active in the sixties civil rights movement.

The very first theater movie I can remember seeing when I was eight or nine years old, alone at an afternoon matinee without adult accompaniment, was Cabin In The Sky in which Lena Horne appeared. I thought she was beautiful, sensual, with a unique singing style and vocal quality that resonated with me. I didn't know anybody whose looks, gestures, could communicate so much sensuous feeling with such rhythmic graceful body movement. She continued to do so on those rare occasions in succeeding years when I would see her in other feature films as well. A later movie "Stormy Weather" with a title song of the same name became her signature song.



I recall reading some years ago of the friendship she had with the actress Ava Gardner; how they both were auditioning at the MGM movie studio for the lead in "Showboat." Studio heads reportedly thought the viewing public wouldn't accept this 'negro' or 'colored person' (as her race was referred to then.) Consequently Ava was given the roll, then frustratingly said she was constantly admonished by producers that somehow she was supposed to "sing like Lena." I knew nothing of that movie casting dynamic then, or of racial casting inequities bandied about in the entertainment world. Here's Lena singing in 1967 "You'd Better Love Me While You May."



A CBS tribute to newsman Ed Bradley following his death several years ago included his favorite interview which was with Lena Horne when she was in her mid-sixties.

In later years I relished viewing Lena Horne: A Lady and Her Music a recording of her 1980's one-woman hit Broadway Show. She was in her seventies but, as ever, had class, style, conveying confidence and pride, sensuality while demonstrating a physical agility in such a way that could make very woman envious.

Newsman Ed Bradley's interview with her, a segment of which was replayed in the CBS Television tribute to him upon his death elicited just the right tone I would have expected in her response to him. This YouTube Bradley/Horne interview is about 2 minutes in length 5.44 minutes into the recording.

PBS News Hour showcased interviews with Ms Horne when she was 80. Included is Margaret Warner's with jazz singer Nancy Wilson in 1997 mostly about Horne's civil rights and racial significance.

Lena Horne was a 1984 recipient of Kennedy Center Honors and their website features her biography:

Visit "Here In The Hills" blog Monday May 10th which features a lovely tribute along with a link to a fascinating piece written a few years ago by another musical talent.

Here's Lena Horne singing "Moon River":