Lorraine Hansberry, Rest in Peace

Gorgeous photo by David Moses Attie (c) 1960.

Today would have been her 78th birthday. May she rest in peace.

Last year I read A Raisin in the Sun and loved it. It remains an extremely powerful play. Highly recommended.

Here are some quotes from Lorraine Hansberry:

• There is always something left to love. And if you ain't learned that, you ain't learned nothing. Have you cried for that boy today? I don't mean for yourself and for the family 'cause we lost the money. I mean for him; what he's been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most; when they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain't through learning -- because that ain't the time at all. It's when he's at his lowest and can't believe in hisself 'cause the world done whipped him so. When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is. [from Raisin in the Sun]


More quotes from Lorraine Hansberry ...

"Do I remain a revolutionary? Intellectually -- without a doubt. But am I prepared to give my body to the struggle or even my comforts? This is what I puzzle about."


• "The thing that makes you exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably that which must also make you lonely." [This quote really struck me. I'm gonna think on this all day ..]


• "Some scholars have estimated that in the three centuries that the European slave trade flourished, the African continent has lost one hundred million of its people. No one, to my knowledge, has ever paid reparations to the descendants of black men; indeed, they have not yet really acknowledged the fact of the crime against humanity, which was the conquest of Africa. But then -- history has not yet been concluded -- has it?"

And I must include a quote from the poet, educator, and activist -- Nikky Finney. She wrote this dedication for her book of extraordinary poems The World is Round:

For the tender-hearted insurgent Lorraine Hansberry, who "finished my thoughts" long before I had them.

And let's end with this one:

Let your motto be resistance.

Tell the truth ...

John Cusack is the person questioned on the last page of the June 2008 edition of Vanity Fair. Here's an excerpt:

What is your motto?
An old Yugoslavian proverb I always come back to: "Tell the truth and run."

"Let my enemies devour each other."

The Writer's Almanac tells us that today is Salvador Dali's birthday.

He said, "Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure — that of being Salvador Dali." At the end of his life there were reports that his assistants did much of his painting. When asked about it, he said, "Let my enemies devour each other."

Two wonderful quotes. Wish I'd said that: "Each morning when I awake, I experience again a supreme pleasure -- that of being Ms Manitoba." And the other: "Let my enemies devour each other."

James Brown and Pete Seeger

Today are the birthdays of James Brown and Pete Seeger. Now, what in the hell do they have in common? Besides music? I guess wanting to change the world. You can say that about the Godfather of Soul ... the King of Funk ... the ex-Hardest Working Man in Show Business. He got side-tracked more than Pete Seeger ... but he was wanting to change the world for sure: "Say it Loud -- I'm Black and I'm Proud."


So, I"ve got two songs here by both men. "Doin' it to Death" has been one of my favorites my whole life. I was in a music appreciation club with co-workers for many years and we once made up a Top Ten list of songs -- "Doin' it to Death" was one of my top tens. The rhythm and beat and melody is so fantastic!!! It is so very impossible to stay seated during this song.

James Brown, may he rest in peace ...


Doin’ it to death - James Brown

Hit it! How you feelin' brother? (Feelin' good!)
You're feelin' good
You play so much bone, brother
How you feelin', man? (I feel alright!)
I won't call your name
I don't want no people to know you're in here
How you feelin', fellas? (Alright!)
Now jam! Sure gettin' down
We're gonna have a funk good time...
We gotta take you higher
Huh! Alright!
We gotta take you higher, huh!
Brothers! Now I want everybody to blow
About two choruses
And then I'm gonna wave you in
I wanna get the fella
With the little horn over there
Fred's gonna take us higher, take us higher
Fred, Fred, Fred!
You know what, when I hear a groove
Like this groove, oh!
I say, I got to get higher
Yeah baby, yeah, yeah
Look a'here
When someone's got a groove like this
You know, you know, no!
I need to grit, gotta grit
Gonna eat, gotta eat
Need to grit, gotta grit, no breath
You know, brothers
I'm gettin' ready to wave y'all in
You know what
I feel so down, I need to get down
In order for me to get down
I got to get in D.
In order for me to get down, I got to get in D.
Need to get in D., dog for D.
Down D., funky D., shakin' D.,down D.
Oh! Huh! Ha ha!
Get on down!
Look a'here, look at that
What we gotta do
Gotta have a funk good time...
Oh, yeah
I didn't know you were singin', Fred
Don't moan so much
Buddy, don't moan so much
We gotta take you higher
Wait a minute!
Know who you say that was over there
(Man, you're lookin' better)
(I know I've seen him somewhere)
Is that Maceo?

*****

In my teenage years, I madly loved this song -- "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" -- and couldn't understand how our leaders, if they listened carefully to this song, could lead us into war. Hitler is a challenge to many many pacifists and he and other evil bullies of that ilk are why I cannot truly call myself a pacifist. I would have joined the services in WWII. If someone seriously attacks one of my friends or families, I would fight to kill. But there's a H-U-G-E difference between that and going to war for all the greedy reasons the U.S. and other countries have gone to war.

Pete Seeger was a pacifist before WWII and it sounds like he debated a lot with his friends about what to do about Hitler. He joined the Navy in 1941. He was trained as an airplane mechanic but was reassigned to entertain troops.

The song is a bit heterosexist but I can overlook it. Years of 12 step programs: "Take what you like and leave the rest."


Pete Seeger is turning 89 today.



Where Have All the Flowers Gone - Pete Seeger

Where have all the flowers gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the flowers gone,
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone,
Young girls picked them every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn

Where have all the young girls gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the young girls gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the young girls gone,
gone to young men every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn

Where have all the young men gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the young men gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the young men gone,
gone to soldiers every one,
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn

Where have all the soldiers gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the soldiers gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the soldiers gone,
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn

Where have all the graveyards gone,
Long time passing,
Where have all the graveyards gone,
Long time ago,
Where have all the graveyards gone,
Gone to flowers every one
When will they ever learn
When will they ever learn


To the young men and women all over the world who find themselves fighting in a war: we bless you, want you to return to us, and pray for you. I just wish you weren't there.

Slowly by Donna Masini

This morning ... the birds are chirping and singing outside ... my cats are exploring my disneyland home (for them; for me it's messy and an eyesore) ... they come over and sniff me to see if anything is different (or is it to gage my mood? or to put me in my place "you're just a thing with smells like everything else") ... I drank my tea. No part of my body is screaming for attention. Life is good in this moment. I haven't read the news yet.


I just read a poem that I must share ... it's from a collection called 180 more Extraordinary Poems For Every Day edited by Billy Collins (one of my very favorite poets). And many of the poems are really good ... I think this one is extraordinary ... it took my breath away at the end. Animal lovers, please try to make it through ... it's worth it. It's such a good poem.


Slowly

I watched a snake once, swallow a rabbit.
Fourth grade, the reptile zoo
the rabbit stiff, nose in, bits of litter stuck to its fur,

its head clenched in the wide
jaws of the snake, the snake
sucking it down its long throat.

All throat that snake--I couldn't tell
where the throat ended, the body
began. I remember the glass

case, the way that snake
took its time (all the girls, groaning, shrieking
but weren't we amazed, fascinated,

saying we couldn't look, but looking, weren't we
held there, weren't we
imagining--what were we imagining?).

Mrs. Peterson urged us to move on girls,
but we couldn't move. It was like
watching a fern unfurl, a minute

hand move across a clock. I didn't know why
the snake didn't choke, the rabbit never
moved, how the jaws kept opening

wider, sucking it down, just so
I am taking this in, slowly,
taking it into my body:

this grief. How slow
the body is to realize.
You are never coming back.

-- Donna Masini

Oh, if I could write like that!!! Really, it took my breath away.

Down to the Bone: Highly recommended

Last night I watched Down to the Bone. This film came out in 2004. I had it on my watch list since then. It’s about a woman who is a wife and mother in upstate New York ... and is trying to get clean from cocaine addiction. Vera Farmiga is this woman. And when I say “is this woman”, I mean it. She’s not playing a role. She is the woman. She and the other actors are so good--including the two young boys who portray her sons. Brilliant directing by Debra Granik. Highly recommended.

Gut Pesach to you!

A blind man is sitting on a park bench. A Rabbi sits down next to him. The Rabbi is chomping on a piece of matzoh. Taking pity on the blind man, he breaks off a piece and gives it to the blind man. Several minutes later, the blind man turns, taps the Rabbi on the shoulder and asks, "Who wrote this?!!"

Happy Birthday, Anne Lamott!

There are so many good books written by Anne Lamott. For emerging writers out there ... read Bird by Bird.

Thanks, Ms. Lamott ... for all the good words you've published ... your humor and honesty ... a lot of funny things can be said when you're being down and dirty and honest, eh? And also, I appreciate that you are an activist. I saw you out at San Quentin the night of Stanley "Tookie" Williams' execution. I liked it that you were not in your Ivory Tower. Although, me myself and I can understand being in an Ivory Tower more and more as I get older. I'm getting more introverted. Yet I love being around people ... but only when I have the right kind of energy.

Have a blessed birthday.

From a photographer I like ...

(c) 2008 K Smokey Cormier

I pay my taxes so the rich don't have to.

-- C. L.

That's a quote from a dear friend. I remember it this time of year.

Youth Speaks Grand Slam Finals

Try to keep this event on yr radar for next year. Last night was the first time I went and it is wonderful. We were in the nose-bleed section but we could feel the passion waaaaaaay back there. So many of these young poets (there was even a 14 yr old and he was fantastic!) were great -- in their poetry and their delivery. I highly recommend this event.

Youth Speaks Grand Slam Poetry Tonight

Yes, it's tonight at 7:00pm in San Francisco at the Opera House. My posse and I (it's sad when the geezers try to be hip and they're really a decade or two behind in slang) will be going tonight. I love having a teen and tween so that I can go to these things and not look like a teen wannabee.

I'm only a teen wannabee when I think of my joints and the knee replacement surgery that lurks up ahead.

Hey, but if you read this in time and live in the San Francisco Bay Area -- why not come to the poetry slam? You can support the young poets in the bay area.

About Youth Speaks

Happy Birthday, Billy Collins!

Today is his birthday and he's one of my favorite poets. He can be very playful in his poems ... and, yet, he is not afraid to get serious either.

Here's one of his poems ...

Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Films We Saw This Week

Dora Heita (Ichikawa Kon)

Hammy, funny in parts, interesting tale of a samurai renowned for his drinking and carousing ways who is then appointed governor of an outpost close to a town filled with drunkards, gamblers, liars, thieves, cheats, prostitutes, pimps, smugglers, and all-around ne'er-do-wells. Not what I would call one of the great films of all time, but pleasant, amusing, a sort of Tokugawa-era murder-mystery with dancing and shenanigans.

Ugetsu monogatari (The Tale of Ugetsu: Mizoguchi Kenji)

We actually saw this before. Still good enough to see again. Mizoguchi Kenji was one of the golden triad (Yasujiro Ozu, Kurosawa Akira) of the golden age of Japanese cinema. We've seen several of his movies at La Casa de Los Gatos, and highly recommend Oharu and Sansho the Bailiff, as well as this one. Caveat: Mizoguchi's films tend to be sadder than Kurosawa's or Ozu's. This is a classic Japanese ghost story, moral and all. The scary parts are pretty damn scary in a "kids at the campfire" sort of way. Mizoguchi is very good at using light and dark to scare the pants offa you.


Le Peuple Migrateur (Winged Migration)

Oh, my. This is such a beautiful piece of work. If you do not see it, you will probably be labeled a very silly person and jeered by obnoxious sprogs who will secretly put chewing gum in your hair. Even Los Gatos loved it. We had to peel Gustav off the screen a couple of times when he did his best Gollum impression (birdses! tasty birdses!), and the others were actually rapt and well-behaved throughout a pretty long but stunningly beautiful film. The directors assure us no tricks were used, but some of those shots are ... unbelievable! Los Gatos assure me that they give it Ten Paws. Other inhabitants of mi casa offer four (unsevered) thumbs up. Total rating: Fourteen Thumb-equivalents.


When The Levees Broke

Let's just say that if this film doesn't make you scream and cry a few times, you need your ticker replaced. I'm talking to you Mr. Dick "Dick" Cheney. Fuck. This is part deuxieme. We have to, so to speak, get it up to watch part troisieme. Better lay in a good stock of booze and happy meds and whatever else it takes, if you plan to watch this. On the other hand, you have to watch it. Spike Lee proves his greatness and viability as an American director with this trilogy. He subtitled it A Requiem In Four Parts. We sincerely hope this is not the requiem, and that New Orleans comes back again.


Have His Carcase (Christopher Hodson)

The BBC did a fine job of putting Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey and his eccentric and clever companion, Harriet Vane, on the screen. If you like: good filmmaking, murder mysteries, British television productions, witty dialogue, Dorothy Sayers, you will love this film.

If you don't &mdash well don't just sit there, you great suffering gob, you've got Netflix, don't you?

Casey Affleck

I always believed it was the things you don't choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family. People here take pride in these things, like it was something they'd accomplished. The bodies around their souls, the cities wrapped around those. I lived on this block my whole life; most of these people have. When your job is to find people who are missing, it helps to know where they started. I find the people who started in the cracks and then fell through. This city can be hard. When I was young, I asked my priest how you could get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God said to His children. "You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves."

-- first lines said by Casey Affleck in Gone, Baby, Gone


Just saw Gone, Baby, Gone and really liked it. I was greatly impressed with Casey Affleck way back when ... in Good Will Hunting. He just seemed like such a natural actor. Again, he embodies the character so fully and naturally in Gone, Baby, Gone. I really recommend the movie. Plus, it's full of wonderful acting by Amy Ryan -- who was so good in The Wire -- Amy Madigan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, and someone new to me: Michelle Monaghan. Monaghan played it so nice and subtle.

So, with all of these really good performances, I'm even more impressed that Casey Affleck stood out.

The directing was also top-notch: Ben Affleck.

Kudos to everyone.

Book Review - February 2008

Sheesh, after last month's prodigious readfest, we're really ashamed to present this month's review list. We'll publish the updated booklist separately.

1. A Place Where The Sea Remembers - Sandra Benitez
   
   Borrowed? No.
   
   Recommended? Yes. This is a collection of short pieces about various characters whose lives are intertwined for different reasons. I really enjoyed this because the author did a fine job of drawing the different characters.
   
   Reread? Probably not.
   
   
2. Anthology of Japanese Literature - Donald Keene
   
   Borrowed? No.
   
   Recommended? Only for those aspiring to learn about Japan. Excellent footnotes, appendices, and references, but I think you would need to have either an interest in Japanese literature, or some knowledge of Asian literature to enjoy this book. Donald Keene is well-respected as a Japan scholar, and this is an excellent selection of Japanese literature from the Heian through the Tokugawa periods. I don't believe there is any modern or even Meiji-era literature here, but otherwise there is a very broad spectrum, including representative poetry, bunraku puppet theatre excerpts, and selections from such classics as The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji.
   
   Reread? No.
   
   
3. Art & Fear - David Bayles & Ted Orland
   
   Borrowed? Gift.
   
   Recommended? Yes. For all aspiring artists, writers, and creative people. If you've ever defeated yourself into not creating art or at least expressing whatever creativity flows in your veins, these two will grab you by the ears and slap you senseless. When you recover, you'll crawl back to your worktable and do just what they suggest: Work!
   
   Reread? Hell, yeah.
   
   
4. Beatitudes - Lyn LeJeune
   
   Borrowed? Gift. We're not naming any names, but certain people have figured out that we meant it when we said "Stop lending us books!" They're getting around this restriction by giving us books. How can we argue with that? Schmeck, my dear, schmeck.
   
   Recommended? Not really. This is a murder mystery set in New Orleans, and the writer is apparently published and popular with some. We're of the opinion that while the idea is excellent, the execution is a bit above the writer's powers. As a result, the book suffers some flaws. On the plus side, all proceeds from the book are donated to the New Orleans public libraries, and what kind of creep would you have to be to refuse such an offer? Buy it already, geez. Either that or send a check to the NOLA libraries, they sure as hell could use it.
   
   Reread? Nope.
   
   
5. Captives of Shanghai - David H. & Gretchen G. Grover
   
   Borrowed? No.
   
   Recommended? Only to scholars of, or those passionately interested in, U.S. Naval history. It really is an interesting but very specific book and deals with the fate of a ship that was, for a time, a vessel of the U.S. Naval Reserve and was seized during WWII by the Japanese.
   
   Reread? I'm not that interested in naval history.
   
   
6. Shantung Compound - Langdon Gilkey
   
   Borrowed? No.
   
   Recommended? Highly. Gilkey had the misfortune — or perhaps the fortune, it's hard to say — of being captured by the Japanese during WWII and spending the war interned in a civilian camp in Shandong. His keen eye for human character and his own sterling character saw him through what must have been a difficult time. This book is the record of his observations of the internment. A more fascinating book you are not highly likely to come across.
   
   Reread? When I have copious spare time, I'm sure.
   
   
7. Sisters and Strangers (Women in the Shanghai Cotton Mills) - Emily Honig
   
   Borrowed? No.
   
   Recommended? Highly. This is an excellent book, well-researched, well-written, scholarly without being, as academic contributions often are, unbearably dry. In an engaging analysis, Honig describes life as it was for women workers in industrial China between the fall of the Manchu Dynasty and the aftermath of the Great Revolution of 1949.
   
   Reread? Oh, deity, WHEN?
   
   
8. The Bafut Beagles - Gerald Durrell
   
   Borrowed? No.
   
   Recommended? Naturalists and historians only. Although I've always liked Durrell's work (and in fact discovered him as a wee sprog — that is, I was a wee sprog — never mind), I realise upon re-reading this work, how sadly dated it is, and how, as good as he was, it was difficult for Durrell to step outside the colonial mindset that bought into the myth of the engaging, if childlike, native. Fortunately, Durrell was always more interested in animals than in people, which made this book somewhat more readable. Regrettably, the picture of the Fon of Bafut that he left with me is of a man wise beyond his contemporaries and his culture who saw only too clearly what the future was bringing to his people.
   
   Reread? Sadly — no.
   
   
9. The Book of Tea - Okakura Kazuko
   
   Borrowed? Gift.
   
   Recommended? Only for collectors of Japanese trivia. This is a very interesting book, but it belongs to a period in history that is long past. Still, it affords an interesting glimpse into that world. You could treat it as a capsule of Japanese manner and custom.
   
   Reread? No.
   
   
10. The Life of an Amorous Woman - Ihara Saikaku
    
    Borrowed? No.
    
    Recommended? Yes. Ihara is a fascinating character, who pretty much invented a genre of Japanese literature (ukiyo-zoshi, which has its counterpart in the art of ukiyo-e), and dashed off thousands of poems. He was a member of the merchant class and wrote like one. This particular book is interesting because so quintessentially Japanese in its moral view of amoral doings. I enjoyed it. Before you bunch your undies and run off to buy or borrow a copy, it is not erotica. In fact, it's aim is to be (broadly speaking) anti-erotic, in that it chronicles the life of a woman who is betrayed by her sexual persona. But read it for yourself and see.
    
    Reread? Probly not.
    
    
11. The World of the Shining Prince - Ivan Morris
    
    Borrowed? No.
    
    Recommended? Only to those interested in Japanese history. Dr. Morris needs no introduction to such, for his many translations of some of the great works of Japanese literature. However, this book is about history, not literature as such. Personally, I found it fascinating.
    
    Reread? Maybe.
    
    
12. Women of China - Bobby Siu
    
    Borrowed? No.
    
    Recommended? Only to those interested in feminist history, women's studies, Chinese history, or the history of the labour movement in China. This is a serious scholarly work, and Professor Siu does a fine job of examining the role of women in China, especially as it pertains to the organization of labour in the countryside and the city and the differing attitudes of the Guomindang and the CCP in terms of women's organizations and women's rights.
    
    Reread? Not likely.
    
    

Films We Saw This Week

And the last, and probably the week before that, too, because life gets messy periodically.

We've only called out dates and directors' names when there's a possibility of confusion, when the movies were made more than a decade ago, and to highlight film-watching trends here at La Casa de Los Gatos.

Yes, we do have a Spike Lee fest scheduled. Also a Japanese fest. We already did Kurosawa a couple of years ago, although, unlike Ozu we have to say you can watch a Kurosawa movie every night for a couple of weeks without feeling like you're watching the same damn thing.

Spike Lee's When The Levees Broke, Part I

Spike Lee is one of America's best directors. Beautifully shot, beautifully assembled, this documentary is a must-see. Yes, it hurts. He does it all in such a calm manner that the violence of the indignities inflicted upon the hapless residents of New Orleans is felt even more keenly than one had thought possible. Take your meds, keep a glass of sippin' stuff close by, and a box of tissues or a handkercher, and watch it anyways. Don't try to watch all three DVDs at one sitting. Unless, of course, you're a terminally ill person who plans on committing suicide.

Kon Ichikawa, Biruma no Tategoto (The Burmese Harp, 1956)


This film is based on a true story about a Japanese soldier who became a monk and remained in Burma after his compatriots were repatriated to Japan in the aftermath of the Japanese surrender in World War II. It really ought to be required watching for warmongers, but it's not the type of film they would watch. It's pretty painful. War is ugly, is the theme of the movie. And the pain and sorrow and suffering it brings leads the protagonist to abandon his uniform, his friends, his country, his home, and his family, and give himself over to the message of the Buddha. Painful but cleansing watching.

Divorzio all'Italiana (Divorce Italian Style, 1961)

We sandwiched this movie between the previous two, because we can only watch so much realism without going completely fucking insane. Thus, we are proud to report that, not only are we not insane, but we actually enjoyed this misogynistic little film although we'd like to slap the writer-director senseless. It was funny, in a sick sort of way.


Imagine Me and You


This film is not going to win the award for Greatest Movie Ever Made, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's about a woman who falls in love on her wedding day — with the flower girl. Unforgettable lines: "My husband's as useless as a fart in a jam-jar" and "You're a wanker Number 9!" Given that it's a movie about lesbians, it managed to avoid both sticky sentimentality (OK, I'll give you the Dino & The Turtles song, but being a hardcore Zappa fan, all I heard was Frank's take on it) or leering letchivorousity (I made it up, so what?). A nice little film about love.


Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise, 1945)


We've only seen this film, oh, three times, and it's well worth it. Arletty plays the woman with whom everyone is in love, and we're ready to believe it; and the directorial eye is in love with light throughout, and it shows. The amazing — most amazing — thing about this film is that it was shot in 1945, almost literally under the noses of the Gestapo and in the midst of the fiercest war France has probably ever known. Timeless, ageless, and beautiful. It is to watch.

Ma Vie en Rose (My Life in Pink)

This is a very sweet, touching film about a little boy who's different. Just different. It's not clear if he is transgender or gay or what, he's just different. He likes pink, and he likes to dance, and he talks to cartoon characters. And because of that, his family is ostracised and goes through some very painful readjustments. Ultimately, this film is about what happens when you have a quirky, eccentric, odd, or just plain — different — person in your family. Society would like us all to be die-stamped clones. And sure, we all brag about our individuality and difference, which we prove by running out to buy exactly the same "cool-this-week" item that everyone else has. So what happens when we have to deal with real difference? Do we squash it and hope it'll stay in place? Or do we accept it and live with the pain and isolation that are its commonest gifts?

In addition to these masterpieces, we also watched a bunch of old Daily Show DVDs (we don't have TV or cable at La Casa de Los Gatos) and two Ozu Yasujiro movies, both of which developed serious problems midway through viewing causing us to take it as a hint from powers beyond that we should fucking quit with the Ozu movies already.

PolCat and Meself

(c) 2006 K. Smokey Cormier

A conversation between PolCat and meself picked from, as Salman Rushdie said in Midnight's Children, "the exotic flowers of the imagination blossom":

Ms. Manitoba: They have a name for people like me.
PolCat: They have many names for people like you.
Ms. Manitoba: Okay, they have a new name for people like me.
PolCat: I'll bite. What is it?
Ms. Manitoba: "quirkyalones"

Susan Abrams writes:

Call them quirky, but don't call them loners. For the self-described "quirkyalone," Valentine's Day is about thinking outside the heart-shaped box of chocolates.

"For me, being a quirkyalone doesn't always mean you are single," said Sasha Cagen, who coined the phrase nearly 10 years ago in an essay that spawned a book called "Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics."

"It just means you have another perception of life. It means being single is not a life sentence. It means you disapprove of settling."
Since writing her essay and starting the Web site quirkyalone.net, a movement has sprouted, with thousands embracing the concept, even transforming Valentine's Day into International Quirkyalone Day.

From Los Angeles to New York, from Brazil to Scotland, in cafes and karaoke bars, a celebration of singledom will occur around the world among like-minded people. The quirkyalones are not anti-love, just against contrived notions of coupledom, according to their creed.

"It definitely has struck a deep chord with people," said Cagen, who is surprised her word - which she created one "kissless New Year's Eve" - has blossomed.

"It's something people relate to in a deep way. It's a movement in that it challenges the prevailing notion that you have to be in a relationship to be happy."

In fact, quirkyalones are defined as fierce romantics. But they don't date for the sake of dating, Cagen said. They believe in the magic of love, but only if all the right pieces fall into place. Until that happens, a quirkyalone's best mate can be his or her own soul, as well as a good group of friends.

Quirkyalone traits include displaying a talent for self-reflection, believing that life can be prosperous and great with or without a mate, creating and maintaining chosen families of friends, and treating life as one big choose-your-own adventure, according to the Web site, which also includes a quiz and a list of famous quirkyalones.

The preceding excerpt was from an article by Susan Abrams. If you want to read the entire article about quirkyalones, click here.

Valentine's Day: A poem by Sharon Olds

Photo by David Bartolomi

Ms. Manitoba thinks that Sharon Olds is a wonderful poet. And Topography is one of the sexiest poems I've read. Enjoy ... and Happy Valentine's Day.


Topography
Sharon Olds

After we flew across the country we
got in bed, laid our bodies
delicately together, like maps laid
face to face, East to West, my
San Francisco against your New York, your
Fire Island against my Sonoma, my
New Orleans deep in your Texas, your Idaho
bright on my Great Lakes, my Kansas
burning against your Kansas your Kansas
burning against my Kansas, your Eastern
Standard Time pressing into my
Pacific Time, my Mountain Time
beating against your Central Time, your
sun rising swiftly from the right my
sun rising swiftly from the left your
moon rising slowly from the left my
moon rising slowly from the right until
all four bodies of the sky
burn above us, sealing us together,
all our cities twin cities,
all our states united, one
nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Music: Qawwali

While tootling around Kyle's place this morning, we took note of his comment that some in the media apparently had difficulty pronouncing Barack Obama's first name (we won't even go into the shenanigans they've perpetrated with his last name), and were reminded of how infuriated we become when we hear one of our very favourite musicians distorted thus:

Noose Rat Fatty Early Cohen

on stations which really ought to emply people who know better. Peoples, this is not some unknown dude bellowing his heart out in a cornfield (wheatfield?) somewhere. He is a master of Qawwali music (well, was. We were utterly heartbroken when he died) who has performed at the Royal Albert, fer cryin' out, we ourselves saw him at the Masonic Auditorium and at the Greek Theater (and there was barely room to fart, not to mention the shamelessness of various men, boys, girls, and women dancing in the aisles and swarming the stage. It's a good thing the South Asian community tends to dress formally in cumbersome clothing for affairs such as this, or underwear would've been flying in all directions (no doubt pissing off the Mighty Khan something terrible - he wasn't even happy about the customary showering with money).

At any rate, here he is an early clip (not very good, but hey).



His incomparable stylings, his talent in blending jazz and classical Hindustani music with the traditional qawwali form, and (largely, though not always) managing to avoid the vulgarity of typical filmi music &mdash where to find another like him? Rightly labeled "Ustadji." Although I just want to say that the young guy's voice makes me want to strangle him. Here, for your listening pleasure, Yeh Jo Halka Halka.

We're off to find his entire treasure of a collection on the iPod (best fucking investment we ever made, being able to listen to The Mighty Khan all damn day while still running around).

Aside: Microsoft Word kept trying to tell us the word we wanted was "muskrat." It's one of those things that leaves you awfully tempted to take the next bus to Redmond just for the pleasure of strangling those blithering idiots.