Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year to all!

Quote of the Day----goodreads

There is an abiding beauty which may be appreciated by those who will see things as they are and who will ask for no reward except to see.

Vera Brittain


English writer Vera Brittain (born December 29, 1893) published her bestselling memoir Testament of Youth in 1933. Since then, it has been adapted into a five-part television miniseries, a fifteen-part radio dramatization, and a feature film starring Hayley Atwell and Dominic West. 

Dana Milbank's 12-24-15 editorial

If you are wringing your hands over the trash mouth of the leading Republican candidate, wring no more.  Dana's editorial of 12-24-15 is superb!  Dana's use of Yiddish throughout is priceless - let's see how long it takes trash mouth to "hate" Dana.

Great writing, Dana.  Thanks!

Quote of the day-----goodreads

When you read a book, you hold another's mind in your hands.

James Burke


Happy birthday, James Burke! In 1973, the British broadcaster and author accurately predicted the widespread use of computers for business and personal applications. One of his more recent predictions? A post-scarcity economy driven by nanotechnology by the year 2043. 

Dana Milbank, Washington Post syndicated columnist

All I am going to state is that you should read today's column by Dana Milbank, Washington Post syndicated columnist, today being 12-10-15.

Amen brother!

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.


Madeleine L'Engle



On her 40th birthday, Madeleine L'Engle (born November 29, 1918) tried to give up writing. She was drowning in rejection letters and unable to help support her family. The writing break didn't last long, though—L'Engle couldn't stop jotting down her ideas. Five years later, she finally found success with her beloved science fiction classic, A Wrinkle in Time. 

Martin Niemoller

"Martin Niemoller (1892-1984) was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler, and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
He is, perhaps, best known for the following quotation - which Americans should very carefully consider, regarding some of the current political folks wanting to become our next President.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me."

We must remember our past, those that stood up against tyranny in all forms, and remain faithful to the words written on the Statue of Liberty "Give me your tired, your poor......."  With the exception of Native Americans, we are all immigrants.

Death in Paradise - BBC series

Death in Paradise   BBC tv series.   According to what I read on a google search, this is the top tv series in the UK, beating out Downton Abbey and Midwife.

Quirky British detective inspector Richard Poole has been transferred to the small island of Saint Marie, a culture and climate totally out of Richard's understanding.  In addition to those unfamiliar situations, he is also faced with a 3 person police force with their own methods of solving crimes - rarely murder.  Richard is a "hoot", never adapting the traditional Island clothing, to keep comfortable, always in his suit, tie and leather shoes,  and carrying his briefcase.   His methods are unique, his local force are always amazed at how he solves the crime, but solve them he does.

Oh, by the way, the cottage by the sea comes with its own live-in lizard, which Richard, at first, tries to scare off, however, the lizard quickly becomes Richard's pet.

British humor abounds, even if this is a "crime" series. Great Caribbean music throughout the series!

Check it out, and hope you enjoy.

Judge John Deed, British TV series

Judge John Deed, a British TV series.

We just finished watching this series.  Enjoyed it very much.


This series deals with the judicial view of "crime", and all the "in's and out's" that occur in British society.  The Judge (Martin Shaw, who also portrays George Gently) is a high court judge -  of and until himself - afraid of no scandal, those wishing to take him down can throw his way, and there are quite of few in "high places" who would just love to see him thrown out of the high court.  We see how corruption can take over government officials. Interesting look, even if it is "made up".


This is one time that a REAL Government did BAN, not just ONE segment of a series, but TWO segments. That was eye-opening!


Hope you will consider watching this one - one side view is  - The Judge is pretty much one who cannot seem to get enough "sex", it can be a put down for those who don't like that, however, it is never shown on screen, just implied.


Cast  includes

Martin Shaw


Jenny Seagrove
Caroline Langrishe
Louisa Clein
Donald Sinden
Barbara Thorn
    Simon Chandler

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

There is greatness in doing something you hate for the sake of someone you love.


Shmuley Boteach



Happy birthday, Shmuley Boteach! The American Orthodox rabbi and author has a reputation for speaking his mind, no matter the consequences. This outspokenness has earned him lots of criticism—but it's also landed him on Newsweek magazine's list of the Top 50 influential rabbis in the United States three years in a row. 

Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.


Zig Ziglar


American motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar (born November 6, 1926) met his future wife, Jean, when he was seventeen and she was sixteen. They spent 66 happy "over-married" years together until his death in 2012. 

Quote of the Day----Goodreads

The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock—shock is a worn-out word—but astonish.



Terry Southern




November 2, 1962: On this day, Stanley Kubrick wrote American author Terry Southern a telegram, requesting help injecting absurdity into his atom-bomb thriller. The resulting collaboration was the cult classic Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. 

quote of the day-------goodreads

And how shall I think of you?' He considered a moment and then laughed. 'Think of me with my nose in a book!


Susanna Clarke



Happy birthday, Susanna Clarke! After re-reading The Lord of the Rings as an adult, she had "a kind of waking dream" about a man who dabbled in magic. Not long after, she began work on her fantastical alternative history epic, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. 

quote of the day-----goodreads

I believe that words are strong, that they can overwhelm what we fear when fear seems more awful than life is good.


Andrew Solomon



Happy birthday, Andrew Solomon! His memoir, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. The book expamines the cultural ramifications of depression through Solomon's interviews with medical professionals, politicians, and depression sufferers. 

quote of the day------goodreads

There is not a particle of life which does not bear poetry within it

Gustave Flaubert


October 26, 1849: On this day, Gustave Flaubert embarked on a two-year trip to Greece and Egypt. But before he could leave, he had to say goodbye to his mother. He later described their parting as "atrocious" and confessed to darting away while her wails followed him out the door. 

Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

Life is a mirror: if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting.


William Makepeace Thackeray



October 23, 1847: On this day, William Makepeace Thackeray wrote a letter to Jane Eyre's publisher, complaining about the book's irresistibility: "It interested me so much that I have lost (or won, if you like) a whole day in reading it." 

Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

The only genius that's worth anything is the genius for hard work.


Kathleen Winsor


American author Kathleen Winsor (born October 16, 1919) wrote a list of life goals for herself when she was 18 years old. At the top of the list? Write a best-selling novel. She met that goal in 1944 with her popular (and controversial) novel Forever Amber. 

quote of the day-----goodreads

There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.


P.G. Wodehouse


As a child, beloved English humorist P.G. Wodehouse (born October 15, 1881) had his detractors. A school report cited his energetic wit as “distorted” and chastised the “distressing” way in which he made jokes during class. 

Just shows that brilliance is often overlooked by those who teach.

Michael Bennett's penalty

You all know that I generally just use my blog for Quote of the Day, movie or book reviews, however, during yesterday's Seattle/Cincy game Michael Bennett really made a HUGE BLUNDER, so I wanted to address this blog to him, although I know he will never see or read it!

Michael Bennett, what were you Thinking, or maybe NOT Thinking when you plowed into Andy Dalton (10-11-15) in the game?  Do you really think that what you did was REASONABLE? And to lose all that yardage!

I have been watching the Seahawks since before you were born!  That is one of the most flagrant fouls that I have ever seen!

Wake up, use your common sense, and intelligence.  

It is really a shame that you couldn't control yourself!

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.



Frank Herbert


On a trip to Florence, Oregon, Frank Herbert (born October 8, 1920) studied the effects of sand dunes that could "swallow whole cities, lakes, rivers, highways." His article on the subject was never completed. Instead, ten years later, he published his epic science fiction novel, Dune. 

Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

Reading brings us unknown friends


Honoré de Balzac


October 6, 1834: On this day, Honoré de Balzac told his mistress, Eveline Hanska, about his work on La Comédie humaine, a series of novels he referred to as his "real mistress." 

Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

There is an odd synchronicity in the way parallel lives veer to touch one another, change direction, and then come close again and again until they connect and hold for whatever it was that fate intended to happen.

Ann Rule


October 2, 1975: On this day, American true crime author Ann Rule found out that her friend Ted Bundy had been arrested. Bundy eventually confessed to committing 30 homicides, and Rule wrote about her personal relationship with the serial killer in her book The Stranger Beside Me


We moved to Washington state at about the time of Ted Bundy's crime spree, tragically, one of my co-worker's (at the library) niece was a victim of Ted Bundy - just awful.
The Stranger Beside Me was the only book I ever read of Ann's, it was really scary, well documented and well written, I could just never read a true crime story again.

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

There are no happy endings.
Endings are the saddest part,
So just give me a happy middle
And a very happy start.

Shel Silverstein


Beloved children's book author Shel Silverstein (born September 25, 1930) wanted to be a baseball player or "a hit with the girls" when he was young, but after repeatedly striking out in both departments, he turned to writing and drawing. 

Richard Sherman's remarks about Black Lives Matter

Richard Sherman, to me, is one of the most intelligent, articulate professional athletes I have ever watched, and I have been watching football since 1963.  Reading his comments just enforced that belief.   Generally, I have not used my blog for hot topic issues, however, this one really spoke volumes, in light of all that has been going on in our society and country over the past year.

 

"Before we get started, I'm gonna address the -- because there was some article written. You know, you guys have seen it. Talking about King Noble and all this. I did not write that article. A lot of people had sent it to me over the weekend, but I thought this would be the best place to address it. There were some points in that article, or in that post, that were relevant and I could agree with. But there were also some obviously ignorant points in there. I don't think any time's a time to call out for an all-out war against police or any race of people. I thought that was an ignorant statement. But as a black man, I do understand that black lives matter. You know, I stand for that, I believe in that wholeheartedly.

But I also think that there's a way to go about things, and there's a way to do things. And I think the issue at hand needs to be addressed internally, and before we move on, because from personal experience, you know, you have living in the hood, living in the inner city, you deal with things, you deal with people dying. Dealt with a best friend getting killed ... it was two 35-year-old black men. Wasn't no police officer involved, wasn't anybody else involved, and I didn't hear anybody shouting "black lives matter" then ... and I think that's the point we need to get to is that we need to deal with our own internal issues before we move forward and start pointing fingers and start attacking other people. We need to solidify ourselves as people and deal with our issues, because I think as long as we have black-on-black crime and, you know, one black man killing another ... if black lives matter, then it should matter all the time. You should never let somebody get killed -- that's somebody's son, that's somebody's brother, that's somebody's friend. So you should always keep that in mind.

And there's a lot of dealings with police officers right now, I don't think all cops are bad. You know, I think there's some great cops out there, who do everything in their power to uphold the badge and uphold the honor and protect the people in society. But there are bad cops, and I think that also needs to be addressed. I think the police officers we have right now -- you know, some of it is being brought to light, because of video cameras, everybody has a camera phone. But these are things a lot of us have dealt with our whole lives. And I think right now is a perfect time to deal with it. The climate we're in ... everybody's being more accepting, you know, so I think the ignorance should stop. I think people realize that, at the end of the day, we're all human beings. So, you know, before we're black, white, Asian, Polynesian, Latino -- we're humans. So, it's up to us to stop it. Thank you."

Yes, Richard, you hit it right on the head - before we are any race, we are ALL JUST HUMANS!  

And thanks, Richard for being You!

Go 'Hawks!

The King'sman--a film

OH, Colin what on earth made you decide to be in this dismally, violent, awful film?

We watched it only to say we did!  Possibly it is supposed to be a parody of James Bond and Dr. Strangelove, however, it really didn't work.

If the "F" word and violence are not your cup of tea, well, avoid this one!

Quote of the Day-------Goodreads

Book collecting is an obsession, an occupation, a disease, an addiction, a fascination, an absurdity, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it must do it.

Jeanette Winterson

Happy birthday, Jeanette Winterson! Before the award-winning English writer became famous for books like Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, she wanted to be a Pentecostal Christian Missionary. She started writing sermons at age six. 

Wonder if she has secretly been in my home?

Mr. Turner a film by Mike Leigh

Starring Timothy Spall, an actor we have enjoyed in previous movies and BBC television productions.

This film was interesting, however very difficult to watch.
Timothy gave a compelling performance as a very unusual artist.  There is no arguing about Turner's genius as an artist, however, as a human being well that's another subject.

The Other Son --- film by Lorraine Levy

Consider this for a moment - one day you wake up and discover that you are NOT you have always thought you were.  What exactly would you do?

And so The Other Son poses this question.

Joseph has taken the required DNA test to become a soldier in the Israeli military - only problem is that his blood type does NOT match that of either his mother or father.  After tracing back 18 years to the night of his birth, his parents are told that a nurse at the hospital mistakenly switched two babies (during night bombing in the West Bank). Yacine, the other baby, has been brought up in the Palestinian section of Tel Aviv, and has just completed the first portion of medical school in Paris.

Naturally, both sets of parents are distraught - the mothers simply want to hold their true sons, the fathers and Yacine's Palestinian brother have entirely different views of this devastating news.

We watched this story unfold - the filming in both Tel Aviv, proper, and the Palestinian section, show the major differences of how each side lives.  This was one of the most compelling films from the Middle East that we have seen - it was hard to watch knowing the pain that was caused by a mistake, yet it was hard to not watch - it was hard to watch seeing how the two sides distrust and "hate" each other, yet it was impossible not to watch how these two families overcame their differences to accept the truth about "the other son".

I would certainly recommend this film to everyone who is interested in current world history.

Quote of the Day----Goodreads

When will you learn that there isn't a word for everything?

Nicole Krauss


Happy birthday, Nicole Krauss! After studying writing at Stanford and Oxford, Nicole Krauss published her first book, Man Walks Into a Room, in 2002. The novel was critically acclaimed and movie rights have since been optioned by Richard Gere. 

Woman in Gold ----- film based on true story

Photo and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.


Woman in Gold ----- film directed by Simon Curtis ----- based on the true story of Maria Altmann, an Austrian Jew who left her homeland behind when the Nazis invaded her country - moved to America and vowed to never return to Austria.  In her later years, Maria discovers letters (after her sister has passed away) that the family had tried to recover artwork stolen by the Nazis and is now "owned" by the Austrian museum. One piece that has "treasured" meaning to Maria is the one done by Gustav Klimt of her beloved aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer "The Woman in Gold".
Klimt used gold leaf to paint this incredible portrait - if you look at the above photo and then at the painting you will be able to see the likeness.

Helen Mirren portrays Maria Altmann, Ryan Reynolds portrays Randy Schoenberg - Maria's American lawyer.

Maria and Randy take her fight, to recover the stolen "Woman in Gold", all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in the case "Republic of Austria v. Altmann" (2004) - by the way Maria and Randy won their case before the justices!   And Justice proves that sometimes that BIGGER isn't always BETTER!  

We started watching this film really late in the evening, however, it is so compelling and heartfelt that we couldn't stop until the end!

Well worth a couple of hours of your time, even just for the sake of history!

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.

Isabel Allende

Happy birthday, Isabel Allende! The Chilean-American writer has been called "the world's most widely read Spanish-language author," and in 2004, President Barack Obama recognized her inspiring body of work with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

Maybe the grass is greener on the other side depends who was standing in it. Sometimes you have to go over there and look.

Lynne Rae Perkins


Happy birthday, Lynne Rae Perkins! The Pittsburgh native studied art in college and didn't consider writing until an art director asked if she had a story to go along with her drawings. Perkins discovered she did indeed have a story—the result was Home Lovely, her first published children's book. 

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you.


Beatrix Potter



Beatrix Potter (born July 28, 1866), author of the beloved Peter Rabbit books, showed an early interest in animals. As a child, she and her younger brother took care of mice, rabbits, a hedgehog, bats, butterflies, and insects. 

Quote of the day-----Goodreads

If you have two friends in your lifetime, you're lucky. If you have one good friend, you're more than lucky.

S.E. Hinton
Happy birthday, S.E. Hinton! The author of The Outsiders is a huge fan of the CW show Supernatural. She's visited the set multiple times and even appeared in an episode in Season 7.

bloom county is BACK!

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome back Opus and gang!  

I sure have missed you in the comic section!

No IF ONLY the Daily Herald (Everett WA.) will put you back in!

Muscle Shoals, documentary

We watched this documentary, if you are of an age that remembers "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy, or "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" by Aretha, or when the Stones first came on the music scene - well, this documentary is right up your alley.

The Muscle Shoals influence is in the music of so many of today's musicians.  

Muscle Shoals, Alabama - who would have thought that a little "backwater" town would have had such a HUGE impact on the music industry?  

Great music, interesting interviews with Percy, Mick, Keith Richards, Bono, lovely photography. 

Hope you will give it a shot.

Free Spirit : Growing Up on the Road and off the Grid by Joshua Safran

This is my review from Goodreads.

This is an amazing story, reads like a fast paced novel, yet no one could ever make up Josh's story. How one young boy lived through adversity and became an award winning author. The Stanwood (Washington) Library was a place of "shelter" for Josh when his family finally moved to Stanwood. I have been a staff member at the Stanwood library for 37 years, and do remember Josh as a very polite, articulate boy, always pleasant. At the recent author Stanwood Library/community event (standing room only), I commented to Josh that I had never known his "back"story, he has become a remarkable human being. It was wonderful to see him again after all the years that have passed. Josh and his mother, Claudia, were "wanderers" in the true sense of the word, they lived in conditions that can only be described as "third world living conditions" in many different areas along the West Coast of the US. Throughout his young life, Josh would "wish" for a place with running water, electricity and indoor plumbing. Claudia, somehow, always managed to keep them together in good times and bad. When asked at the author event, about whether he should have been placed in foster care, he gave a most interesting answer, No, although they wandered around and never had a real home, Claudia did love him immensely - this comes through his book Loud and Clear. Josh received a full scholarship to Oberlin, with triple majors, and eventually became a lawyer. Due to his background, Josh has become an advocate for victims of abuse and those falsely imprisoned. He also has embraced his Jewish heritage - even though Claudia, for years, did not address their background. He has found peace with himself, his mother, and has a loving wife, Leah, and three beautiful young daughters.

Quote of the Day-------Goodreads

Where did feelings go when they disappeared? Did they leave a chemical trace somewhere in our minds, so that if we could look inside ourselves we would see via the patterns of neurons some of the important things that had happened to us in our lifetimes?
Evelyn Lau


Happy birthday, Evelyn Lau! Her parents pressured her to become a doctor, but the future Vancouver poet laureate had other ideas, publishing her first poem at the age of 12 and her first memoir—of two, so far—at the age of 18.

Quote of the Day----Goodreads

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!
Dorothea Mackellar
Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar (born July 1, 1985) wrote one of Australia's best known poems, My Country, when she was just 19 while feeling homesick in England.


Somehow, I think Goodreads got her birth year wrong - in searching Google images for her, most of the photos showed someone who looked past the age of 30 - I wonder if they meant 1895? or 1885?   Anyway, the above verse is quite beautiful.

Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

We have eyes, and we're looking at stuff all the time, all day long. And I just think that whatever our eyes touch should be beautiful, tasteful, appealing, and important.
Eric Carle

Happy birthday, Eric Carle! The writer and illustrator's most famous children's book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, was almost called A Week with Willi Worm—until Carle's editor brought up concerns about the likability of a worm protagonist.

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

Isn't it strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forwards in a kind of flood?

Anita Desai
Happy birthday, Anita Desai! The Indian novelist is a wordsmith in more than one language. Because of her German mother, she grew up speaking German at home, but spoke Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, and English everywhere else.

Quote of the Day------Goodreads

If you don't like someone's story, write your own.
Chinua Achebe
June 17, 1878: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart was published 137 years ago today. The classic novel tells the story of Okonkwo, a local wrestling champion living in the fictional Nigerian village of Umuofia.

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Quote of the Day-----Goodreads

Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.
Mary Shelley
June 16, 1816: On this day, Mary Shelley experienced a “waking dream,” a vision of a scientist kneeling beside his hideous creation. This nightmarish episode would inspire her to write Frankenstein.

To The Best of our Knowledge NPR edition 6-14-15

True Stories Of A Warehouse Worker

• Listen Now
• Download

A few years ago, journalist Mac McClelland went undercover to find out what really happens when you order something online from a site like Amazon. As it turns out, all that ecommerce is still largely driven by humans, many of whom work backbreaking temporary jobs in massive warehouses.






Yesterday (6-14-15) I happened to be listening to NPR's program To The Best of our Knowledge, the first story was about working in a shipping warehouse - Amazon is not named until the very last of the piece. 
I came away glad that I am one of the last remaining dinosaurs that does not use Amazon's services, I would hate to be involved in "slave labor" practices in this day and age.


You can download it or listen to from their website - To The Best of our Knowledge.

Quote of the day-----Goodreads

I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.
C.S. Lewis
June 4, 1949: On this day, C.S. Lewis cautioned a reader about the "undesirability of shutting oneself in a cupboard" while re-enacting the adventures in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.


 Ah, an author after my own heart.  Sweet to know that C.S. knew the value of re-reading books - afterall, one doesn't always "see" all the little "in's and out's" of a story with the very first reading.

Joey Alexander, pianist

Yesterday, Friday May 29th 2015, on
"The World" pri (from NPR), this young pianist (11 years old) was interviewed by host Marco Werman.  He performed several piano jazz pieces - let me just say, that I have never heard an 11 year old play the way he did, nor have I ever heard one converse so incredibly with an adult.  

He will be performing at this year's Newport Jazz Festival.

You can hear some of his performance by going to "The World" pri.

Check him out.

My Old Lady, a film

We watched this film last night, not sure why it is labeled as a comedy, the subject matter is pretty involved.  Possibly, because Kevin Kline is generally considered a "comic"
 actor?

Set in current day Paris.

Mathias Gold (Kevin) inherits an apartment (MORE like a palace when you consider the size of the place) from his estranged father, only trouble is that with the apartment, he also inherits Mathilde (Maggie Smith) and her daughter Chloe (Kristin Scott Thomas), who according to "ancient" French real estate laws, are not required to vacate the premises until Mathilde passes away. All Mathias wants to do is sell the place - he is after all BROKE!

Things are not always what they seem, and Mathias learns that his father and Mathilde had been lovers some 40 years ago, and is it possible that Chloe is his half sister?

Layers of hurt, anger and distrust are peeled away gradually, until we see each character for who they really are.