Valentine’s Day Shifts……

Musing alert. I think I have posted previously about having to work most of the time while I was in college. One summer I actually worked my regular part time job then another part time job and then had a third, temporary one for a little while that same summer. That was when my regular part time job was behind the soda fountain of the Rexall Drug Store although we didn’t actually sell much in the way of ice cream creations. It was more coffee/drinks, sandwiches, and cones. There were a few men who routinely came in for morning coffee and one day one of them stopped in for an afternoon cup. He had a nice box of candy he was obviously planning to check out so I naturally inquired as to if it was his wife’s birthday or other special occasion. He replied that no, no reason; he just liked to surprise her now and then. It was a habit he recommended. That leads me to the subject of Valentine’s Day. (Yes, I know it can be difficult when one has no Valentine and I have posted about that before.) There was a time when I was in all for the appropriate gestures of dinner out, flowers, and so forth. I can’t even say for certain when we decided that going out in the crowds could give way instead to a nice dinner and champagne at home. We do usually add in a dessert as well. No gifts or extra flower arrangements are needed even though I do always get Hubby some kind of Valentine themed candy, but like Snickers in heart-decorated wrapping.

What it comes down to, is it’s a bit like the gentleman I was talking about. We haven’t lost the romance; we simply don’t focus on Valentine’s Day as a time to show it.

Not Stuck on Cars, But…..

It really is a coincidence this post is also about Ford. I can’t really if it was Jan or Feb when the movie “Ford vs Ferrari” was released. I was supposed to go with Hubby to see it, but was caught up in one of the obligations I had and he went alone. He loved it and I knew it would make it to cable before too long. I finally had a chance to watch it the other night with him and quite frankly I’m glad he had previously seen it. There is a pivotal scene early in the movie that takes place in a diner. There are in fact two components to that scene and if you don’t know to pay close attention to the whole part of it, you focus only on the most obvious. This is another instance where Hollywood allegedly doesn’t stray far from what actually occurred throughout the time depicted. On the other hand, if you don’t care about cars, this will be a boring movie. If you don’t know a little about car history, you will need someone to give a few pointers. With that said, it’s a great movie.

The casting is superb although I don’t care for John Lucas playing a somewhat slimeball. He does it quite well, however. For those of a certain age, seeing Lee Iacocca at Ford brings a chuckle. I must admit quite some time ago, there was a discussion about his role in creating the Mustang that I had completely forgotten. The portrayal of Carroll Shelby is terrific although Hubby was a little disappointed they never mentioned his chili expertise. (That’s the mix Hubby always uses). Scenes with Henry Ford II are allegedly close to accurate and anyone who has dealt with corporate America can see the back-and-forth between “sticking with what works” and risky innovation. As I said, not the movie for everyone, but an absolute jewel for those who are the target audience.

 

“They Really Lived?”……

Thank you Brian Dennehy for great movies and television shows. This post is not about him, but a couple of his contemporaries and a quirky, delightful movie, “Secondhand Lions”. I don’t think I’ve posted about it before; at least I didn’t see it when I did a quick search. The movie takes place in the 1960s on an isolated place in west Texas. The McCann brothers, Hub (Robert Duvall) and Garth (Michael Caine) wind up with their great nephew Walter (Haley Joel Osment) for the summer. The mother Mae, played by Kera Sedgwick, is utterly irresponsible which plays out in multiple ways. Of the two childless uncles, Garth is the most sympathetic to the boy, although Hub is more so than his tough exterior allows him to express. The two men are rumored to have a great treasure on the premises, thus the constant presence of greedy relatives and persistent traveling salesmen.

The first thirty minutes might move a bit slowly for some, but is important in setting up the story. Wild tales of great adventure of the brothers are told to Walter as the dynamics shift and relationships change, both humorously and touchingly. The meaning of family, the aspect of aging away from one’s youth, the concept of one true great love, are woven together as the summer progresses. The speech, “What Every Boy Needs To Know About Being a Man” (or words to that effect), is heartwarming and the closing scenes of the movie are perfect. I didn’t realize until today it was actually a book published in 2003. I probably should have thought of that before since so many movies are adapted. I don’t think it’s on Kindle so I won’t order it as I really am trying to not add to the physical number of books we have. Anyway, as people are still inside a great deal, keep an eye out for this movie.

Truth and Belief…..

Serious musing alert. I can’t begin to count the number of “King Arthur” movies that have been made. My favorite continues to be “Excalibur” with by the way, a young Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart, and a little known Liam Nessom. Setting that aside, there are multiple passages about the importance of truth. In the beginning Uthur Pendragon persuades Merlin to deceive Igraine after he has killed her husband the king. In exchange, Merlin takes the infant Arthur. As Uthur rages against the bargain he made, Merlin tells him he is not “the one”, as his betrayal of others have left him untrustworthy and indeed Uthur is killed in revenge in the next scene. Fast forward years when Arthur draws the sword Excalibur from the stone. Some of the same men who killed Uthur refuse to accept him and challenge Patrick Stewart’s character to join them. “I saw what I saw,” he says. “The boy drew the sword. If a boy has been chosen, the boy is the king.” In later scenes, Merlin is either cryptic or plain spoken about why truth is important. “When truth dies, so does part of man,” (or something like that) is one comment.

The point to this post is how often we say, “truth” when it is often instead perception/perspective or belief. I’ve discussed this subject before and what brings it to mind now is the on-going divisiveness in so much of our societies about so very many topics. As I have also previously mentioned, if one makes decisions based on that, convincing someone their “truth” is in actuality their belief and perhaps not “true” in the larger sense is not likely to occur. This is not quite the same as “cognitive dissonance” which involves holding conflicting beliefs (sure, smoking can cause cancer, but that won’t happen to me). There are often times when a situation occurs and the truth may never be known. Two or more people are involved in an incident where there is no visual or audio record of what was done or said. The “he said, she said” is all that is available and thus belief comes into play if choice must be made about which version to accept. Most of us have a tendency to want to trust our own judgement and are reluctant to admit otherwise. In fact, the great Carl Sagan once wrote (although I don’t know the exact source) “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle.  We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth.  The bamboozle has captured us.  It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.”

 

 

All the Star Wars…..

This is actually a two-item post. In early November, the ShowBiz Entertainment Complex opened in Homestead. We did several articles about it for the paper and it is impressive. The company has quite a few movie theaters in multiple states, but only five of these complexes, and ours is the first one in Florida. When you enter the complex, there are thirteen bowling lanes to the right, an electronic arcade to the left and a full bar in between. In addition to the standard concessions, there’s also an ice cream and coffee bar and a cafe that serves a nice menu. Beyond all this are ten movie theaters; one of which is equipped with a very high tech system, SDX. All the theaters have Dolby sound and big screens though so any of them present quite the experience. I was going to go with Hubby a couple of weeks ago to actually watch a movie, but some kind of last minute crisis interfered. Son and daughter-in-law had “date day” while they were here and went to see Star Wars. The plan to take granddaughter New Year’s Day didn’t come about as other things took priority. Anyway, I finally went with Hubby this week to see Star Wars. The reclining leather seats are quite nice and the fact I could take in my glass of wine was even better. Each seat has not only a cup holder, but also a tray to comfortably hold items.

Now onto the movie. Since we are of an age to have seen the original Star Wars, that puts us in a different category than the kids. I will acknowledge still being somewhat confused with prequels and sequels that make up what I think are now nine movies total. It’s been interesting watching the original stars age as they have and of course the unexpected death of Carrie Fisher three years ago was especially poignant in seeing her on the screen. It’s difficult to know how many young girls have been influenced by her role as Princess Leia. The movie, Rise of Skywalker, was true to the format and the special effects were amazing as always. I really do think it can come to a close now, but Hollywood may well have other ideas.

There was a big crowd for the ShowBiz ribbon cutting.

Another Classic Movie….

I was looking at some of the old VHS tapes as I’m not even sure I still know how to use the player since we’ve been using DVDs for so long. “We’re No Angels” is not considered a Christmas movie although it does involve a Christmas setting. The fact it’s set in the sweltering Caribbean may have something to do with that. It was made in 1954 with a marvelous cast. Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov, and Aldo Ray have escaped from a place similar to Devils Island. They take refuge in a store where Leo G. Carroll, his wife, and daughter live. A loving husband and father and terrible business man whose wealthy cousin, played by Basil Rathbone, is determined to turn him out, family or no family.

The convicts declare they shall kill the family, and steal whatever they need to make their getaway. Well, as they pretend to be out on work-release and offer to repair the roof, maybe they can help out with a few other things first. The story is wonderfully tongue-in-cheek as the daughter, who is infatuated with her second cousin, doesn’t realize how selfish and shallow he is. And since the convicts are staying for only a few days, perhaps they can help her with her love life. Humphrey Bogart’s character is an expert forger, so why not fix the store’s books while they are there? And it really wouldn’t be seemly to kill the family on Christmas Day, would it? There is also the matter of the pet poisonous snake that causes complications.

I don’t know if the movie can be found on streaming services (and no, it’s not the one of the same name starring Robert DeNiro and Sean Penn), but if so, it is a pleasant way to pass a couple of hours.

Trip Day 2….

Ah, Mother Nature will have her way. The expected thunderstorms and rain slowed down, so the indoor option for yesterday seems to have lost use of what turned out to be a nice day after all. However, having been properly primed for the movie “Downton Abby”, there was a stop for lunch at a Deli featuring Greek. I do send sympathies to my friend that would greatly love for us to have such a place in Homestead. The spicy gyro was excellent. The matinee on a Wednesday was obviously mostly attended by people our age and older. Since I have not followed the series, I think I would have enjoyed the movie anyway, yet would definitely have missed a number of important relationships and dimensions of characters. My friend, the avid fan, thoroughly enjoyed it and I heard only good comments from other people.

We drove back by a different route and down to the Table Rock Lake RV/picnic park closest to their home. It was quite nice and about ten minutes from their house. They have a spectacular view of the lake from their upper terrace although they can’t access it. The park – part of the Army Corps of Engineers work – has a fairly spacious area for boats and a ramp as well as a small beach and section of lake marked off by floats to allow swimming protected from boats.

As I always mention on this trip, fried catfish is something no one in our part of Florida does very well and therefore it is a goal each time I come this way. Aside from not having hushpuppies, a “dive bar” close to my friends does fry up good catfish and they serve it with curly fries and decent cold slaw. They do take-out and dinner last night was piping hot when we went and picked it up.

Sorry, Little Chrysalis…..

Ah, the pains of being novices. Okay, in the recent post about finally getting the backyard re-landscaped and focusing on plants to attract butterflies and birds, I did mention they planted some milkweed. Subsequently, all the milkweed leaves were eaten and there were more than a dozen caterpillars. Now come the probable error on our part. There were only two chrysalis when we went out a few days later; one on the almost stripped milkweed plant and one further over dangling off a sign. In looking about at all the nearby plants, we couldn’t find any of the caterpillars or other chrysalis. We don’t have a clue as to what happened to the caterpillars. I don’t know if birds can swoop in and eat them when they’re vulnerable or if maybe they crawled off into some other plants to where we couldn’t see them. Anyway, the one on the milkweed plant fell or was knocked off in the recent windy/rainy day which leaves our one lone chrysalis. I do hope it makes it. So, we’re up for suggestions from those who have been through this before.

I also haven’t seen any finches coming around to the one tree with berries they supposedly like. On the other hand, I don’t know that they aren’t. I do love those little critters and would like to have them as regular visitors. No hummingbirds yet either and again, we’re not during the migration time and all the indigenous ones may be perfectly happy where ever they are with no need to seek out new yards. With that said, the new plantings are all doing well and the lemon tree has grown some. We don’t expect fruit for maybe a year.  The beautiful one called a chocolate raspberry (a climber) has recovered nicely. Hubby had transplanted it when they were coming to replace the fence and the landscape crew transplanted it a second time. I know that can be tough on plants and we kept our fingers crossed. It is enjoyed by butterflies.

About That Game of Thrones….

Musings ahead alert. Okay, now that a week has passed since the final episode of Game of Thrones, let me begin by saying I’ve watched a number of long-running series end and there were several wildly popular ones I never watched. (That includes St Elsewhere, Seinfeld, and The Sopranos) Anyway, tens of thousands (and probably a much higher number) of fans have expressed their opinions and feelings about the dramatic and unexpected turn that led to the ultimate surprise ending of Game of Thrones. In the off chance someone who follows this blog might decide to binge watch and learn what all the fuss was about – stop reading now.

In discussing the whole process this morning with a friend who did not watch the series and attempted to watch the finale because of all the talk, I made the point that while the ending was unsatisfactory for many people, it was logical based on all that occurred over the eight seasons. Was I disappointed in the direction? Yes. Was it, however, actually more in keeping with the characters? Yes. In the latter part of the episode as the Imp talked about who should be made ruler, he made the coherent case that signs existed, yet were ignored as to a growing perversion of initial good intentions of the character we were led to believe was the “right one”. Only one character had understood and acknowledged those signs and that character was killed because of it. Moving from fantasy and entertainment  into the real world and the pursuit of power, 300+ years before Christ, Plato is attributed with the quotation of, “Those who seek power are not worthy of that power.” In the real world, however, strengths are required for those in positions of power. Difficult decisions must sometimes be made and unless one is dealing with a very small population, it is rarely possible to make decisions that will benefit everyone. This was a major premise when I wrote, To Play on Grass Fields, http://bit.ly/2zVJ3OD

As I stated quite some time ago in a post, I do agree that too many times the, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, does apply. I prefer, however, the modified view of, “The desire for power attracts the corruptible”. Will we, as a species, someday be able to have enough people in positions of power who can perform wisely in those positions? I would like to see the day come.

The Game of Thrones Thing….

Okay, just as I was never a fan of certain hugely popular TV series, I realize there are those who don’t care about “Game of Thrones”. It is complex, does have way too much graphic violence, and a startlingly number of “good” characters meet grisly ends. There are always a few scenes where I focus on whatever book I’m reading until the bloodbath is over. On the other hand, there are way cool dragons even though they do occasionally lapse into inappropriate behavior such as killing off some poor guy’s livestock for a meal. (The “Mother of Dragons” character does reimburse them when she knows of such). In essence, the “Game of Thrones”, is set into motion in the first season as the Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms (who sits on the very impressive Iron Throne) dies and everyone from the kingdoms either lay claim to the throne or chose up sides to support a claimant. In actuality, the King who died had taken power through war so the subsequent war was not entirely unexpected. There also happens to be a deadly being and huge army of his creatures who plan to wipe out everyone and take over. The continuing dramas switch back and forth between the myriad plots, a large array of characters, and the possibility of utter destruction by the external threat.

Anyway, this is the final season and there is wide-spread speculation about who will ultimately survive and prevail. Based on every season to date, a significant number of characters will probably be killed off beginning tonight as none of the primary ones were in last week’s opening episode. The series is based on books by George R.R. Martin and as violent as the shows are, the books are worse. Our neighbor who is a big fan gave us the first one to read back when the series started. It was too much for me and while Hubby didn’t mind the extreme level of blood-letting, there were even more characters to keep up with and he didn’t care for that. Martin has been key to developing the series, but of course completely closed-mouth about what is going to happen.