Monday, May 29, 2006

Dunno

I'm about two-thirds of the way through


re-reading the 1926 American novel


The Sun Also Rises, set in Paris and Spain.


The title is from Ecclesiastes which passage


is quoted just after the dedication page, the


page for his wife Hadley. Author: Ernest


Hemingway.


 


Thirty one years after publication in 1926,


this novel was made into a movie in 1957


with a large, big name cast, directed by


Henry King.  Almost the only thing I can


remember about that movie is a shot of


movie star Ava Gardner, presumably


playing the character of Brett, sitting in


the stands watching a bull fight while


holding in her hands a pack of Chesterfield


cigarettes. I spotted it because long ago I


made a lot of money as an actor and as


a model.  Acting in TV commercials was


sometimes demeaning but at least, I tell


myself, I didn't hold a product in a


theatrical movie; that's as about as


sneaking and lowdown pathetic as it gets


in the movies. Poor Hemingway. It's time


he was given a break today.


 


One reason I'm closely studying this first


novel written by Hemingway is that it has


been grossly misunderstood and


misrepresented. A clue, I have discovered,


to what it is really about is the late novel by


Hemingway, perhaps of all his work the


one that was most under-appreciated,


titled Across The River and Into the Trees,


another title taken from the Bible. In the


first novel, his first literally, Hemingway


has the first person narrator actually say a


prayer half a page long. In that prayer the


narrator asks forgiveness for his being a


"rotten Catholic." Just above the quote


from the Bible there is given a quote from


conversation by Gertrude Stein: "You are


all a lost generation." Why might she have


said that? Couldn't it have been said in


sympathy for the tortured psyches of all


those who were damaged by the


ghastliness of World War One? the war


which witnessed the first bombing


of civilians, and the debut of the machine


gun? One of the reasons so many millions


were killed is that everyone was very slow


to really get how many bullets were being


fired so rapidly.


 


Years after pocketing his Nobel Prize for


Literature, years after his books were


trashed by the movies, years after Feminists


decided Ernest Hemingway was The


Enemy, the author revisited the subject of


the damaged soldier in the even greater


novel, Across The River and Into The


Trees. Today, young damaged soldiers are


again in our midst, live. Recently they've


committed suicide. Four returning


soldiers, all four returning to the same


Stateside Army Camp, murdered their


wives. And in the news today our soldiers


are being charged with murdering Iraqi


women and children. One job a novelist


can either consciously or unconscioulsy


take on is that of the person to sound the


alarm. Hemingway sounded the alarm.


It made him rich and honored, but part


of him, I believe, wished he'd been


listened to more.


 


Barry

Friday, May 26, 2006

Memorial Day, Monday May 29, 2006

Monday we'll mourn, Memorialize, the dead


from warfare. There's a lot of them. Most of


our military dead died very young. That's why


all Americans (men only?) are required to


register when very young. Hundreds of


thousands died in the air over Europe. The


people of Berlin during daylight bombing raids


were aghast that our planes flew so low


over their cities. The British planes flew


at night, up high. **The nature of the US


bombing over Europe may in many instances


have been virtual suicide missions. This fact


is hinted at in the Zanuck, 20th Century Fox,


1949 movie Twelve O'Clock High.


** That was the case over Dresden; I don't know much about British bomb patterns over Berlin.  The subject is enormously complicated: weather, need for surprise, changes in schedules, politics, how to prepare for the inevitable peace.


In current warfare our bombing hasn't had


the same dramatic effects achieved during


WW2.  To succeeed we may have to invent


our own style of terrorism. What defeats 


most bother our enemies?  Making fun a la


Satanic Verses  seemed to have worked


quite well. America made a petty, quibbling


mistake in suppressing the news that an


American Muslim woman, a Ph.D Psychiatrist,


was shown on Al Jazera declaring that


terrorists were "Psychotic." Instead of 


dropping bombs wemust instead drop


leaflets so insulting beards will get ripped


off in rage.


 


Well, I'm off the write my letter to the CIA,


the Pentagon, all those chagrined, retired


American Generals who are pissed at our


lack of more rapid progress, and others,


outlining how to unhinge our enemies.


 


Barry


 

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Formats Against Ideas

Blogs blogs blogs I wonder if this format will sit


still long enough for me to form an idea or two in


plain English. This is just typing to see if it will


work.  


 


Well, if I make the lines double spaced and


short I can be read without much bother on


the part of the reader. 



In addition to banning me from the privilege


of reading his journal Jimmy sheets has perhaps


screwed up my blog in retaliation for being


critical of his childishness. Jimmy, the number


of people who respond to my journal is of no


serious importance to me. I'm self-sustaining:


try it, wimp!


 


I'm currently wrestling with My college, which


was affiliated with a nearby Women's college,


"Anniversary Report." That is, both colleges


are represented. The book might weigh between


5 & 10 lbs!  It weights at least twice as much as


the hard cover copy of the heaviest Harry Potter


books, Phoenix, order of.   Ooooo, skimming


through the Radcliffe section I came upon a


longish essay which included a summary of her


thoughts about homosexuality then and now.


How fascinating that a woman would bring it up,


when I bet not one single male would dare. One


classmate, gay, male, a friend, died of AIDS.


There are others. Since graduation the two


colleges have merged, and taken the name of the


oldest. Since then - and this fascinates me - there


occurred in one of the living quarters a student


double murder: both were female! The second to


die hung herself from the shower. Incredibly


ironic given that the motive for the merger was


aimed, in my opinion, primarily to curb male


homesexuality. Humanity will not be regulated.


 


Forget what I was going to speak about. No


matter. I fear boxoffice for Da Vinci is going well.


Well, comics always do better that serious stuff.


I'll never forgive Ron Howard and Tom Hanks.


The whole family will go next weekend. I know


I'll fall asleep. I have to reread the book standing


up.  


 


That's all folks!


Barry

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Christianity



Undeniably true on all counts. One picks and

chooses which of several options to emphasize.

I'd really, truly prefer to believe that Ron

 

Howard, a much loved character, and as in

 

Backdraft, a terrific director, is a man of good

 

character. My kids ADORE that movie. At

 

Universal center some years ago I saw family

 

groups standing in line for Backdraft and all

 

were wearing white T-shirts showing the logos

 

of fire fighting companies.









What I want, and probably what everyone wants,

is peace, especially peace between different

religions. I'm incredibly moved by the fact

that more words are devoted to Mary (The Mother

of God to Catholics) in the Koran, than there are

words devoted to Mary in The New Testament. I

read that in a Parish news letter.







Some Christians, following ideas in the

 

Beatitudes, believe that the Mission of Jesus

 

was to make God available to everyone. In his

 

time on earth that was not possible because in

 

order to enter the inner sanctum of the temple,

 

and make sacrifice, one had to change one's

 

coins into acceptably cleansed coins with

 

which to purchase the animal or bird to be

 

sacrificed. Hence the New Testament

 

narrative of Jesus upsetting the tables of the

 

money changers. That is, changing money,

 

selecting whose money would be changed and

 

whose would not be changed, allowed various

 

discriminations. Unfortunately that scene was

 

never filmed for The Passion of the Christ.









 

I believe the subject of 'money' was too potentially

 

dangerous. Yet, having the chief priest actually at

 

the crucifixion was an even greater mistake: it's

 

not in the Bible, and it screams out, "antiSemitism!".

 

In history, going by the Bible, it was the crowd, not

 

the chief priest, who wanted to free Barabass, and

 

crucify Jesus.







Some Christian ministers (not sure about

Catholic priests) make a lot out of the fact

that it was women who discovered that Jesus

was no longer in the tomb. Jesus appeared,

I believe, to a woman first. There is

a lot of evidence in the Bible that Jesus loved

and respected women. The idea that he'd get

 

married when he knew his end was near is mind

 

bogglingly insulting. Just think of all the tender,

 

unprecedented mention of children and women

 

meeting with Jesus!  The woman at the well,

the foot washing, the woman about to be stoned,

 

and "Suffer little children to come unto me"!









Nice exchanging views with you! Thanks! You

 

help me find my thoughts.

 

Barry

Writing and Graphics

My impulse to write gets absorbed 


by message boards related to reading


and writing, writing letters, and what's


left over gets put here. There's not much


'here' here.


 


Frequently I wonder if I should give


in and put up commented upon graphics,


photos, family, and so on. Is the


expenditure of time and energy worth


the trouble? I've always been more


interested in writing than I have been


interested in graphics. For that reason


I'm much more interested in proving that


Damn Dan Brown can't write, than I


am in proving that Brown knows almost


nothing about Leonardo and the history


of painting. The fact that Leonardo used


a mirror, and/or the reader must use a


mirror, to read his writing has nothing to


do with any kind of "code." Suggesting


that Mary Magdelene was at the last Supper


is simply and literally stupid.  


 

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Eating Out on Mother's Day

Mother's Day climaxed with son Vincent


(10) giving his mother earrings and


necklace. His Mother, ever-gracious,


modest and vastly appreciative of every


boon conferred by life, accepted


Vincent's largesse as if the gifts arrived


from Tiffany's. Later, at the hall mirror,


she tried them on while co-operating


while I took photos. These I'll just have


to put up later to adorn my post. Elsa


doesn't need makeup: that was supplied


at birth. I tell her that and she most


naturally smiles showing her perfect


teeth and oh so healthy-looking pink


gums.


 


The family had brunch at TV Cafe, a


bistro we've frequented as a family for


at least ten years. It's a 24hr Mexican


restaurant in the industrial section of


LA Southeast of Downtown. On Alemeda


that runs past it trolley tracks are still


planted in the roadway from the days


when all of the city featured electric


trolley travel. I found the restaurant


many years ago when in a panic about


running out of gas I got off the freeway


to fill my tank. I've been filling my 'tank'


there ever since. It's a humorous place.


There's a huge copy of a painting of the


inside of the Vatican done by Raphael.


But instead of historical characters in


the 'group' portait there are Rock Stars


and other luminaries. The original


painting was featured in a TV news


story today! about the imminent opening


of the Da Vinci Code.


 


We return to the restaurant quite


frequently because management and


staff are always so exceptionally


welcoming. The locale sure is strange


however. Across the street is a branch


of a men's club (?) spoken of by Howard


Stern when he was on FM radio. He


always called it SCORES, but I think it's


actually called SCORE.


 


Just the other day I had a forgotten


roll of Tri-X film developed, film that


was exposed in 1995. One of the photos


was taken at TV Cafe; there's Vincent


as an infant in the arms of the waitress.


There's my two daughters and a son 


from a previous marriage, with the


youngest daughter, now at Wellesley,


and my present wife smiling her always


beatific smile that is so enrapturing of


everyone she meets.


 


The fun we've had at slightly


disreputable TV Cafe reminds me,


when I think about that odd


phenomenon, of the observation 18th


century intellectual Sam Johnson


offered: "Nothing is more hopeless


than a scheme of merriment." I


wouldn't normally have chosen TV Cafe;


it chose me. Ha ha ha. It's a fitting


addition to mention that it was Dr.


Johnson who invented the word


"TIPS" = "To Insure Prompt Service."


Yes, I've tipped over the years, but


everyone has had fun, everyone. This


Mother's Day will be a day to remember.


Barry


P.S. "Disreputable" might sound unmerited,


but let me tell you that at night there is an


armed guard. We've seen unrepaired bullet


holes in the huge glass windows.  Lol!


Often luck is better than "schemes."


 


 


 

From 78 to 88 in Less than a Week

So, in less than a week Jimmy Sheets


has picked up another ten Comments.


His score leaped from 78 to 88.


 


Eighty-eight pieces of advice can be


summarized under a) Go "Private"


b) Tell us the name of your tormentor


and c) We'll always "love" you.


 


Here's what's wrong with 'going private':


It's the difference between The Friar's Club


for example, and the neighborhood tavern.


The latter will always win; the former has rules


and restrictions spoken and un-spoken.


Alternate screen names sink name-telling.


And c) has the imperfection of having absolutely


nothing to do with "Love."


 


Jimmy's lament already rings as hollow


as the promises of ol' GW. Ah, Politics


of cyberspace, ha ha ha ha ha ha.....


 


Barry


Scalzi can't, or won't have my Journal


window fixed, so for now I'm reduced


to this scribble in narrow columns.  BB3


 

Sunday, May 7, 2006

Rackets and Other Weapons

So Jimmy's in a temper threatening


to give up blogging for eternity. Seventy


eight sympathetic AOL blogging Comment


writers plead with him to stay, stay, stay.


In other words, plain, Jimmy is running his


racket, playing 'take away' and all his followers


fall in line. For a season. Rackets don't last


long and their effectiveness is fueled by a


need that is soon satisfied elsewhere. Just


watch.


 


I learned about rackets from enlightenment


seminars, first est, then The Forum: the


latter is still given. You can call information


in almost any city, probably, in America and


ask for the number of Landmark Education.


Ask for the date of the next free Guest Seminar.


est was even given in Soviet Russia. Amazing,


huh? Billy Graham was welcome to speak in


Soviet Russian, and so was Werner Erhardt,


and later est;not up on what's happening today. 


Est was given in England and Australia, so


I assume so is The Forum (Landmark Education). 


Est was also given in India.


You see, what the 'Jimmy kiddies' don't get


yet is how conditional is Jimmy's love. Any


'Jimmy.' "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds.....".


Barry


 


 


 

Thursday, May 4, 2006

The Loneliness of Being Banned




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Thursday, May 4, 2006
Subject: Hey, calc is over
Time: 4:50:00 PM EDT
Author:  cgiguy1001



Picture from Hometown



Written by cgiguy1001 . Link to this entry | Blog about this entry | Notify AOL

                    _________________

 

cgiguy1001has banned me so the only way I can reply to his junk thinking is to reply via my journal.

 

Anyone who advertises that "Sex is fun" mostly likely isn't getting

any lately.  And to reduce the concept, ":Sex is fun" to a calculus equation is angry about his bedroom deprivation.

 

So, I have a tip for cigarette guy and that's to get religion and come at sex from the opposite direction. Get my drift!???

 

Barry

 

Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Wither AOL Journals?

Oh dear, oh dear what's happening


to Jimmy and Pixie and the other


lovable creatures of the forests of


Blogging life? Someone, a female,


is all the ID he gives, has rattled


the bars of Jimmy's cage and irked


him so much he declares he's taking


a powder, permanently. Pixie has


gone underground? Wait a minute,


that author might not be "Pixie"; that


role might be taken by a daughter, who


gives off "dust" and the only pen name


remaining therfore is "Me." Well!


What's gonna happen to "Me"?  I wonder 


if 'Me' has considered re-upping? I've


thought of doing that; shoot, I can do


more pushups today than I could when


I was in my 20s the only previous time


I was in the US Army.


 What's to be made of the fact that some


AOL message boards are in practice


'Women Only'? Feminism in USA seems


to have produced only all-women enclaves


 for the unhappy. 


Men and women seem to get along better


in England than they do in America. For example, a Brit journal entry, male,


included a brilliant photo of a snaking


line of nude dancers, men and women.


It was obviously pure and for exersize


and spiritual togetherness with


nothing vulgar or untoward meant or


conveyed.


That scene, apparently, is commonplace


in today's England (Great Britain.)


I hang my head: we are very backward


here in North America.


Barry