New Poem GUESTS IN THE HOUSE

fell and couldn’t get up

crawled past the bewildered cats

finally found the cellphone, dialed 911

kept on hold, then gave information 

>

somehow opened the patio door

slow crawl to the garage

somehow opened the electric door

then reverse crawl from patio to den

>

a few minutes later, paramedics arrive

one of them says, mute the Dodger game on TV

another sees the books by my chair and asks

do you ever go outside?

I say yes, when the medicines and groceries run out

>

vitals checked, prescriptions recorded

lifted to my feet, not without further knee pain

decline a ride to the emergency room

>

by myself again 

should buy a cane and a walker

though I dread reduced mobility 

>

bruises, but no breaks or fractures 

time to turn off the mute button 

Some heresy regarding the film PICNIC.

Joshua Logan’s adaptation of the William Inge play PICNIC will screen in early April at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theater (Netflix/American Cinematheque) with two people I like doing a Q and A afterwards.

But I can’t bring myself to see it again; once, two decades ago, at the pre-Tarantino Vista Theater was more than enough.

Overaged, miscast William Holden and the excruciating scene where Rosalind Russell loudly begs MARRY ME MARRY ME MARRY ME to Arthur O’Connell resonate in my memories like tornado warning sirens.

Mitigating factors are Kim Novak and young Susan Strasberg, plus the Kansas color cinematography of James Wong Howe.

But it doesn’t work for me as a definitive portrait of breaking away from small town narrowness.

Regarding Sen. Katie Britt’s SOTU Response

What I saw of the Katie Britt SOTU rebuttal (couldn’t bring myself to endure the whole thing) reminded me of fundraising appeals that either come from televangelists or hucksters preying on seniors who watch MeTV, Buzzr, etc.

Obviously, it was intended as a soft-sell version of Trump’s standard apocalyptic Hulk Smash bigotry and Bidenphobia.  But it seemed like an audition video for a local TV news anchor position—heavy on smiling while reading copy off the teleprompter.  With the occasional look this is serious face.

THE NEW YORK TIMES gives Donald Trump water wings.

Quote below is from an article by Rebecca Davis O’Brien titled WHY THE AGE ISSUE IS HURTING BIDEN SO MUCH MORE THAN TRUMP.  

“It is the perception of how you communicate,” said Carol Kinsey Goman, a speaker and coach on leadership presence. “When Trump makes those kinds of faux pas, he just brushes it off, and people don’t say, ‘Oh, he’s aging.’ He makes at least as many mistakes as Joe Biden, but because he does it with this bravado, it doesn’t seem like senility. It seems like passion.”

Yes, Best Buy said this.

Happened upon the paragraph below on the Best Buy website.  As most people know, Best Buy soon plans to murder sales of physical DVDs/Blu-rays/4K discs both in their stores and online.

Benefits of ownership.

With streaming media increasingly available, you might wonder why you'd want to own a physical copy of movies and TV shows on your Blu-ray Discs and DVDs. Well, you might want to be entertained in a part of the world without Internet access — like when you're watching TV in a remote cabin get-away or keeping the kids entertained while they're in the car. Plus, serious fans of certain TV shows like to own libraries of their favorite movies and shows for marathon watching sessions or loaning to friends.

New Poem: MASTODON FIGHT

 get ready once more

 two mastodons enter the stadium

 for more roars and tusk-butts

 >

 the media loves rematches

 even if most of the public doesn’t 

 >

 watch Donald dance away 

 from what he stirred up on 1/6/21

 heh heh, nothing to do with me

 they got overexcited on their own

 you don’t mind if I squash civil liberties next time

 >

 see Joe bark at those who

 dare to bring up Israel and Gaza

 and his failure to distance from Bibi’s slaughter 

 he says look, I cut insulin prices

 and got both parties to agree on infrastructure 

 >

 someone asks why he doesn’t tout the accomplishments 

 instead of always shouting OOGA BOOGA TRUMP

 the crowd boos the question 

 Joe resumes the stump speech 

 this is what we get

 when we don’t have big donor money

 or super PAC clout

 to push for real change

 to keep old men with outmoded methods 

 away from oval offices and nuclear footballs 

Best Films of 2023 Second Draft

 In no specific order:

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON/ANATOMY OF A FALL/FREMONT/OPPENHEIMER/THE HOLDOVERS/PAST LIVES/FERRARI/TALK TO ME

Honorable Mention: NAPOLEON/MASTER GARDENER/BARBIE/DUMB MONEY/AIR

Flawed But Worthwhile: SALTBURN/PRISCILLA/MAY DECEMBER/THE COLOR PURPLE 2023

Watchable Underachiever: THE KILLER 

Some of the music I listened to in 2023

 In no specific order:

 Jessie Ware: THAT! FEELS GOOD!

 Pretenders: RELENTLESS 

 Peter Gabriel: I/o (Bright Side Mix)

 Son Volt: DAY OF THE DOUG (Doug Sahm tribute)

 Flatt & Scruggs: ORIGINAL THEME FROM BONNIE AND CLYDE

 Bruce Springsteen: THE LIVE SERIES: SONGS ON KEYS

 The Beatles: 1962-1966 (expanded 2023 reissue)

 The Who: WHO’S NEXT/LIFE HOUSE boxset

 Bob Dylan: THE COMPLETE BUDOKAN 1978

 Wilco: COUSIN/CRUEL COUNTRY

 Elvis Presley: ALOHA FROM HAWAII 50th Anniversary 

 Cindy Wilson: REALMS

 Billy Joel: PIANO MAN 50th Anniversary Dolby Atmos mix

 Little Richard: LITTLE RICHARD IS BACK

 Gene Vincent: I’M BACK AND I’M PROUD