OFFICIAL PREDICTION ALERT

This blog is officially announcing the re-election of incumbent President Barack Obama in 2012.

STRING THEORY - Tidbits too small to make a complete blog are strung together.

Some reflections for this first week of January 2011…What's been up with the myriad of tots gone missing or murdered lately? The news is strewn with these stories. Hasn't anyone ever heard of asking family for help, calling Parents Anonymous, or just leaving the kid at a fire station or hospital?...If Mitt Romney was a food, he would be a plain scoop of vanilla ice cream in a white bowl. Is anyone more boring than Romney?..Teen brat singer Justin Bieber now sports a tat of Jesus on his knee. This means that when he kneels to pray, he'll be grinding Jesus' face off. Nice…..John Huntsman is the only Republican candidate who might be able to beat the President but where the heck is he? If John Huntsman was a food, he would be a steak salad. Think about it…Just took a peak at the new TLC reality show All-American Muslim about several Moslem families living in Dearborn, Michigan. The show needs a little more pzazz! action! Since I like this show, some might say that I've either been duped by the evil or stupid Liberal Left or else I'm currently checking out the hijab spring fashions…Today, Eric Holder of the Department of Justice announced that the old definition of rape no longer is sufficient. Why not? It was written in 1926. The 2011 description of rape now includes men as well as women victims. Truly, this is evidence of evolving life on this planet and a further reason the space aliens should not destroy our planet…Mad Men will be returning soon. Something about this series is starting to feel a tad stale. It also hasn't helped that Matt Weiner recently felt compelled to announce he will end the series with an old Don Draper. Kimberly-Clark's Depend Guards for Men might be a good product placement for that last season.…The Department of Labor announced 1.6 million new jobs have been gained in 2011 and unemployment rates have also dropped to the lowest level since February 2009. Repubs, don't look now but your patron saint Ronald Reagan had the same unemployment rate to deal with one year prior to his re-election in the eighties….Mystery Question: Does anybody know why Piers Morgan keeps saying "WE" during discussions about our American politics and our problems? Does he have the proverbial rodent hiding somewhere on his person?...The string is now closed.      

COME BACK TWIN PEAKS

COME BACK TWIN PEAKS

 

For years I have heard about this weird show called Twin Peaks and now I've seen it - every weird moment of it, except the ending the series deserved…

Oh, I have seen every episode made to this date. But, we never saw the second and last season as the producers really wanted to make it.

As viewers know, Twin Peaks was aborted early on, due to the shows producers being forced by ABC to reveal the killer of Laura Palmer halfway through the second season. This was because the show was on the chopping block due to low ratings. It was also considered unacceptable that a TV murder would remain still unsolved at the end of the first season. Going into the second season with the killer still not known was even more outrageous in those days and the network forced the TP producers to reveal the killer pronto.

However, once Laura Palmer's killer was known, the story's mystery was dispelled, and the series lost its creative mystery. The last episode of this famed series is painful to watch. Our favorite characters are hanging by the threads of unresolved plot lines and most of them wear sad faces. No more coffee, no more cherry pie. The Twin Peaks RR Diner is closed.

For good? In the last couple years, two Twin Peaks alumni have expressed an interest in resurrecting the series. One has mentioned the possibility of launching a sequel in the form of webisodes…while another, a former co-producer of the show, has talked about wanting to see the series be given a much justified television rebirth. Reaction: What a great time to do it. Today we have cable TV. A series like Twin Peaks could incarnate on a cable network like AMC or TNT. There's a lot more wiggle room for artistic expression and divergent wackiness on cable these days than there was on one of the Big Three in the early nineties. Maybe we really are evolving... 

P.S. Think about this - during the series finale, in the Red Room, didn't Laura Palmer tell Agent Cooper she'd see him in about 25 years? Who says it can't be a few years sooner...?  

MOVIES FOR WINTER NIGHTS, PART IV

I just realized that I am writing three movies on women whose titles all begin with “P”...

The second P-title is The Politician’s Wife starring Juliet Stevenson, one of those fine British actresses who has little name recognition but whose face would seem dimly familiar. She plays The Wife, and the movie is posited on the daydream that finally a politican’s Stepford Wife emerges from behind her cardboard façade and takes merciless revenge upon her slime ball husband.

Her husband has no visible scruples, except his own aggrandizement and glory, and he lies, cheats and manipulates his way through the shattered lives of all around him. The Wife steps forward and decides to execute her bloodless revenge upon him. She tells herself, he must be stopped! However, there is a truth shining forth in this story: revenge ultimately takes its revenge upon the revenger. If you watch this film, watch carefully at the close-up of Wife’s eyes in the last shot to see the rot beginning to creep into her soul.

MOVIES FOR WINTER NIGHTS, PART III

It’s hard to know where to start – I’ve seen such a batch of tasty movies lately during these cold Arizona nights by the crackling fire!

The Painted Lady is a Helen Mirren showcase, circa 1997. I loved this movie and found it an engrossing mystery about a washed-up legendary singer (Mirren) who avenges her elderly benefactor's death. In the pursuit of finding his killer – and solving another murder besides! – she insinuates herself into the snobbish world of international art dealers. Featured in her adventures is a fascinating perusal of Artemisia Gentileschi’s violent 17th century masterpiece Judith Slaying Holofernes. There is a feminist theme running through this movie that I found satisfying – not to mention this movie is an entertaining and riveting mystery. One word of caution: this movie may take several nights to finish; it is a long work but rewarding...plus, you will learn a snatch about painting.

CHEASELWICKE

Little Cheaselwicke died last Tuesday.

He had a large tumor in his throat. The vet found it when she had him under anesthesia - she couldn't even get the endotracheal tube in for cleaning his teeth. She phoned me - we had a heartbreaking consultation - I started crying - he was facing months of chemotherapy and strenuous measures that a little cat should never be forced to endure. The choice was clear: I told her to let him go.

She "put him to sleep".

I have been grieving since. He was my best friend. Fifteen years old, he had been with me through the darkest periods of my life. The sudden death of my beloved husband, the agonizing death of my warm and witty father, and my intelligent mother's quick descent into the craziness of Alzheimers...

...and Cheasley was also my best "interventionist" when I was drinking. He used to sit at my feet, looking up at me with that Look he had - critical, observing everything, the wheels turning behind his intelligent eyes, as if he was thinking "Are you really going to keep drinking more wine?" He was also my best buddy ever when I finally got sober in 2000 and faced life without my self-medication of alcohol. He was there to soothe and comfort me.

Last week, one of the last quality times we spent together was when Cheasley got up on my lap, put his paws around my neck and looked close and deep into my eyes. I stared back and for several minutes we just looked at each other, silently, him purring, our hearts connecting.

I love him so.

P.P.S. MERCURY IN RETROGRADE

More Movies in Winter are coming, but first...a weep and a wail!

I have been walking around the house today looking at the clutter creeping back. I want Mercury in Retrograde to return and motivate me to clean up, organize, give things away, re-organize, do my filing, shred crap, please come back! I am calling out to it like a friend I miss: we argued but I was a beter person because of Mercury going backward. It seems like there's no better time for me to get organized.

Please come back! And last alot longer! I'll just grit my teeth and prepare for the worst in driving, computers, electrical, mechanical and communications - if only I can get my home cleaned up!

Tonight I was anxiously studying the calendar for this next glorious period: it will be May 7 - May 30, 2009. I will get my car checked before then, my house re-wired, do all my traveling so I don't have to fly or go anywhere...

Until then, I am have no other choice than to fall back on simple will power and discipline to clean things up and get organized!