So many good movies to watch and so little time, right Judy? Added bonus: Today's politics are like a bad movie you wanna leave but can't

My friend Judy Diaz and I love to talk about movies, politics, gardening, and food. We were on the phone last nite when the SC primary returns were coming in. We were flabbergasted that the racist prevaricator Gingrich won.

Hey, when times are tough, politicians conjure up scapegoats. Why dyou think Hitler, from Austria, was so successful? Bit by bit he raised his voice against the Jews and the desperate jobless population followed his every hysterical word.
America, according to Gingrich, is being adulterated [sic] by the poor, especially the blacks, and the voters in the Palmetto State, none of whom do their research, are swayed by the snake-oil salesman that is Gingrich, who made a fortune doing the work of a lobbyist.

Before I go to sleep at nite, I actually think about these outrageous things that are taking down our country: the creeps who are running for president, and Obama, who is the plaything of the corporations.

We are owned by corporations. The little guy has absolutely no say.

David Stockman, former budget director under Reagan, who disagreed w/his boss's fiscal policies, was a guest last night on the Bill Moyers Show. I'll end my political rant w/a quote from Stockman, b. 1946, found on Wiki:

The Republican Party has totally abdicated its job in our democracy, which is to act as the guardian of fiscal discipline and responsibility. They're on an anti-tax jihad -- one that benefits the prosperous classes.

Oops, one more rant. Democracy? Try plutocracy.

*

Because I subscribe to Top Documentary Films, I watched a British documentary called Curiosity: Did God Create the Universe? It was narrated by Stephen Hawking, the great cosmologist/thinker, who is now 70 years of age.

For the first time, while watching "Curiosity" I minorly understood the theory of the Big Bang, which is neatly explained by a law of physics called negative energy. I will watch it again b/c I'm supremely interested in quantum physics and alternate universes. Scott knows a lot about this and helps explain it to me.

The film begins with these words:

Hello, my name is Stephen Hawkings, physicist, cosmologist, and something of a dreamer. Although I cannot move and I have to speak through a computer, in my mind I am free.

Do you think it's true, that as Dr Martin Luther King said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice"

There's a lot of violence going on in the billions upon billions of galaxies up there, but of course they're not sentient beings as we are.

Hawking concludes by saying the Universe created itself. Time began with the Big Bang. Had God created the Big Bang and the immutable laws that govern the universe, he would have had no time to do so, since Time did not exist before the universe was created.

The universe spontaneously created itself.

Sadly, said Hawking, this leads me to believe there is no heaven or afterlife. We've got to appreciate the Grand Design of the Universe while we are here, and for that I am very grateful.

Last nite, Scott and I watched a great film on Channel 12: Shake Hands with the Devil, a 1959 flick set in 1921 Dublin about the Irish Revolution.

Great cast starring James Cagney - Don Murray, still alive at 82 - Glynis Johns, still alive at 88 - and Dana Winter, who passed this year at 79.



Richard Harris played a true hero.

Unforgettable scene with Cagney and Dana Wynter. Cagney played a man w/two faces: a master surgeon who saved people's lives and a brutal member of the IRA who loved nothing more than killing people. Will he succeed in killing Dana Wynter? Or will Richard Harris, as he promised, save her?

This morning we watched The Great Gatsby, a beautifully photographed film starring Robert Redford, Mia Farrow and Sam Waterston.

Mia Farrow as the shallow, wooed-by-riches Daisy who literally gets away w/murder. "You know rich girls can't marry poor boys," she said to Jay Gatsby who truly loved her.

Well, Gatsby, who pompously called everyone "old sport," worked his way up in the world - behold his castle - never mind that he was a bootlegger - and won his Daisy over for a little while, but she was a prudent woman and went back to her philandering husband.

How lucky can a snowed-in girl get? While preparing dinner, I watched this sci fi thriller on Channel 17. Maybe there is a god after all.

Help! Help! It's coming our way.

Poor Leo G Carroll (five bonus points if you remember what TV show he was in) is a scientist who invented a growth hormone that created the grotesquely huge insect w/ toxic venom.

John Agar also starred. His acting career got off to a good start but then he was relegated into B movies, like this one, which is quite good.

Mara Corday is the exquisitely beautiful assistant of Leo Carroll and GF of Agar. A life-long friend of Clint Eastwood - they're both 81 or 82 - he got her stalled career back on track again.

Delicious bean soup w/ veggies and grated cheddar on top.

What did You do on this First Day of Snow?

First thing I did today, rightly or wrongly, was cancel our Writer's Group. I'd gotten an email from our Township saying Stay off the Roads.

The roads are fine. But Carly wrote back saying, Good, I'll just snuggle up under my blanket and have another cup of coffee.

I plan to watch movies with Scott. Last nite we watched The Perfect Storm, a true story starring Geo Clooney and Mark Wahlberg. The title, according to Wiki, is: A powerful hurricane or other major weather disturbance, especially as produced by a combination of meteorological conditions.

Classified as a disaster movie, it was absolutely thrilling. I was a nervous wreck as the "Andrea Gail" fishing boat - piloted by the unlucky, impulsive Clooney - began breaking up under the ravages of the hurricane and two other fearsome squalls - but Scott was totally nonchalant.

This morning, while watching last nite's Charlie Rose Show on my laptop, Dan called. Gee, I hadn't realized my phone was an AT&T.

He arranged for a conference call for les trois - the three Demings!

Sarah is working on our Kidney Memoir and wanted Dan's impressions of when she boxed in the Golden Gloves at Madison Square Garden and got a bloody nose. She lost but felt victorious cuz her opponent was so much better than my little girl was.

I remember when the announcer introduced Sarah, mentioning she'd been a comp lit major at Brown, [with a minor in religion].

Since Dan, Sarah and I would be on the phone for a while, I hopped on my exercise bike and pedaled for 25 minutes.

Talking to my kids was even better than riding to The Rifleman or two great Rockford Files I saw recently. One time Rockford got locked up in an insane asylum, a positively brilliant episode.

Here's how I looked when I got off the horse:

Then I brewed myself two cups of 12 O'Clock Coffee, A and P's brand, which had been sitting in my fridge a good three years or so. It was delicious!!!

Yesterday, my sisters Ellen and Donna met at the Starbucks on County Line Road where Donna works. I had their delicious strong decaf and Donna gave us a sample taste of their new Blonde Roast, which they came up with to compete with Dunkin Donuts.

After one sip, I turned to Donna and said, "Are you f'ing kidding me? This doesn't even taste like coffee."

The Charlie Rose Show featured another installment of his fantastic Brain Series, this time on the strange occurrence of loss of ability to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells while the specific sense is not defective nor ... this from Wiki.

The great Nobelist Eric Kandel was moderator. He's 82 and won the 2000 prize for his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons.

When I was 19 and at Goddard College, two friends and I took a mescaline trip. I can still see what I then believed was the way memory storage worked: very fast flipping through tiny cards like in a Rolodex. Actually, that is how the memory works, according to the show. We compare new memories with old ones.

Artist Chuck Close has a form of anosias. He has difficulty remembering faces, including a woman he lived with for two years. He said he's "driven" to paint people's faces.

It would be overwhelming, he said, unless he broke up the painting - which may take as long as a year to complete - into small sections, hence his using tiny dots to complete the painting.

Here's one he did of my cousin Mark:

Oops! That my pharmacist Dr. Bob. They still owe me 60 tabs of tacrolimus, my chief antirejection med, but I've got plenty.

Several years ago, my family and I went to an opening at the DC Moore Gallery to view Mark's most recent work. Afterward, my sisters Donna and Ellen, Mark's mom Aunt Selma, then 89, and I visited Chuck Close's studio. I blogged about it w/great photos but apparently it was on my old blog. Chuck showed us his amazing wheelchair which he had specially made.

Another shot of Chuck Close taken at close range from my Acer laptop, which has at least two teaspoons of food between the keys.

Some people have mezuzas by their door, which I do at my front door, but I have photos of the kids as talismans by the family room door.

Snow view.

Ken the mailman came on time. I threw all my "mail" away.

When's the last time YOU got any good mail?

Have you been to the new Jewish Museum?

As a gift for my 66th birthday, Ada and Rich Fleisher took me to the new National Museum of Jewish History at Independence Mall. What a treat!

Photos not allowed in museum, only at entry way. Here's the all-important stair way. We were advised to start on the fourth floor and work ourselves down.

There was so much to see we only finished the third floor!

Since it was Weds., there weren't too many people. Suddenly I saw a rush of people come in, definitely not Jewish.

I asked one of them who they were. She was from a nearby company and a dozen people came for "Diversity Day." Pretty cool, huh?

The museum is built on a tiny corner. Looks like it's made all of glass. Even the stairways are see-through.

They have a little theater with continually playing movies - some narrated by the great singer-actor Mandy Patinkin - where we got to see greats from the Yiddish theater in New York and vaudeville.

I'd never seen Eddie Cantor before. Peppy little guy who could dance and sing. I was trying to catch a brief nap while sitting down, but Cantor energized me and I kept jerking awake.

Eddie Cantor from 1923.

Here's Fanny Brice, hitherto known only by Streisand's performance of Brice in Funny Girl.

Oops, that's Baby Grace who is now a year and a half.

Fanny Brice (1891-1961). Fania Borach was her real name. Popular comedienne, singer, performer.

The Jewish Museum's theater reminded us of The Stoogeum - the Three Stooges Museum in Ambler. The Stooges also appeared in the cavalcade of Jewish stars.

At closing time at the museum, we raced downstairs to the fantastic gift shop.

I took photos so I could gaze upon them in the privacy of my home, wearing PJs for comfort and warmth, and drinking hot water to keep me warm. Brrr-cold out today. Right, Bill?

Menorahs for Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. Hello Judah Maccabee, resistance hero.


I love gift shops. When Donna and I drove to Cleveland, we stopped at the Maltz Museum and their superb gift shop.

My purchases. Gave Scott a refrigerator magnet. Bought an extra one. If anyone wants it, send me an email and it's yours.

Now, b/c I'm an insulin-dependent person with diabetes, I had to plan for the entire day. Here's a note I have on my kitchen bulletin board:

I still forget I have diabetes, so while we were viewing some Rebecca Gratz paraphernalia - her tiny nail scissors, tea service - I remembered, OMG, it's been four hours since I ate.

This means that my blood sugar has probly fallen too low. I began to panic, but quickly stopped myself. I had checked my pocketbook in the coat room so didn't have any glucose tabs or Triscuits, but knew that since the museum would be closing soon, I'd retrieve my pocketbook and scarf down the rye Triscuits, eating the cheese with them for a quasi-complete meal.

Reminder: Always carry Glucose tabs in your pocket just in case!

The dinner gong went off. Rich found a superb restaurant online - La Scala at Sixth and Chestnut.


Everyone loved their food. I chose a pork chop - why not? first reform synagogue was in Cincinnati Ohio - you didn't need to keep kosher, we learned that at the museum. The waiter, Dan, assured me it would be tender.

We shared our appetizers. Within three minutes of eating, I bit my tongue - it was horribly painful, but I kept on talking and didn't let on.

What's the strongest muscle in the body? The jaw muscles to tear apart our carnivorous desires.

Blackout! - It worked!

I don't know about you, but I find the Internet Blackout almost as exciting as when Obama was elected.

Look at how clever the Internet artists are. Think fast! It's a Rorschach test.

Google is wearing a pirate's patch over its eye.


My Mozilla Thunderbird wears widow's weeds.

Hail Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia.

Yes yes Verizon! - No no Republican Candidates - Give me movies to forget about the sorry state of our country

Last nite, I had a difficult time. I did three things simultaneously, all in my bedroom. My blood sugar was really high, so I watched a terrific Rifleman while biking, and brot my blood sugar down 40 points.

Also watched the Republican debates on my laptop which rested atop my pillow. Charles Blow of the Times has a great editorial about the hypocrisy, elitism, racism, and total lack of compassion in the candidates.

I was riveted to the screen, thinking, "These people are Americans?"

Was also watching the White House celebration of Martin Luther King day. Roll the photos, Ruthie!





Was also working on Chapter 12 of my kidney memoir. Emailed it to my boss this morning (Sarah) who wrote back, "Wow, this is fabulous, Mom."

Believe it or not, I'm on the phone now w/a recorded announcement from Verizon. Joe came out this morning and fixed both my phones, while rendering next-door boyfriend Scott's phone out-of-order.

"They're incompetent!" Scott shouted when I visited him.

Verizon is coming out tomro b/c I've had so many "issues" and they're installing new phone lines for Scott and me, for free.

Verizon has a lot of money, explained Jeff, my Verizon "consultant," when he explained the situation to me.

I only pretended to understand what they're gonna do.

Joe found one squirrel living in the cable box. He removed it, so the squirrel must find a new home.

Hey! What's that scratching I hear on my chimley?

While stepping outside to pick up my Whig at Faith and Hope Boutique, I saw the most amazing sight.

The Fox was nonchalantly crossing Cowbell Road. He didn't have a care in the world. Beautiful posture. Very unlike a dog.

I used to read my kids a book called "The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night" by Peter Spier. Here are the names I goggled before I remembered Spier:

Peter Spickel, Peter Piers, Peter Spier.

Spier, born in 1927 in Holland, is half-Jewish. He was in a concentration camp in what is now the Czech Republic.

Most of the info on my blog is gotten from Wikipedia. They're having a blackout on Wednesday, Jan. 17, tomorrow, to protest a vote our US Congress will take that affects the future of the Internet for us free Americans.

Frankly, I don't know what it's about. I'm waiting for Wiki to tell us. Story from the Times.

"Diabetes Still Life."

Sunday's chili was so good, I made another batch this morning. In addition to dried kidney beans, I used some old chick peas I had in the cupboard, left over from when I was on my kidney-healthy diet.

Visited Mom and Ellen this morning. Mom applauded my use of chick peas, telling me they're very healthy. Wish Mom were healthy. She told me her three major complaints which are certainly whoppers.

Great article in the Times about the last film George Lukas - of Star Wars' fame - will make before he retires to making his own kind of films, personal films, not slated to make tons of money. His last film is called "Red Tails" and is about the Tuskegee Airmen, classic underdog heroes who despite despicable treatment from their own country, performed courageously under fire during WW2, giving their lives for their country.

Is it my imagination or are more people escaping into watching movies? The front page of The Times is frequently filled w/movie news.

While biking - yet again - this time at Scott's house - my sugar was 180 but went down to 80 - I watched American Masterpiece on PBS - a multi-part series on Warner Brothers Film.

Scott was in the kitchen eating lunch. He had just "lifted" in the basement, preserving those big muscles that look so neat. I always tell him to wear a short-sleeve shirt so people can see them but "vanity, thy name is not Scott."

Write that down, Scott, I said about the following films, and we'll get em at the library.

The Color Purple - Spielberg steps out of his familiar future genres
The Unforgiven - Clint Eastwood
Three Kings - violent George Clooney movie about Iraq

Oops, that's Fra Angelico's Three Kings.



I know you'll miss me when I'm gone, but gotta get ready for our New Directions meeting. Must put the guest speaker's flowers in the car.