Bald Eagles and fishing boats don't mix -- once the boat was gone (again) the big birds caught a fish and shared some of it with the Magpies. A Pileated Woodpecker fed on the suet cage yesterday too.

More updates on their way: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in February too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Thousand Yard Stare on Ariana Huffington's blogsite. A video of Jim Soular reading his poem Gold Star Mother -- over a hundred visitors!
Huffington Post -- Contagious Festival.

Media Watch: Dancing with the Stars -- Nick & Cheryl and "Tina Sparkle" both recieved three scores of 10 from the judges. "Lips" got three 9s, despite the accompanying music to her dance stinking so badly. Jerry Rice and "Hammy" George were tied, but we threw Jerry a couple of votes because his dance was actually better. "Hammy's" professional partner danced with another pro, and was as radiant as we suspected she'd be.
We recorded the PBS ballroom dance show for later viewing.


Abhishek Bachchan and Antara Mali in Naach; Antara Mali (inset)
Abishek may be saying:
Even though this may LOOK like Rangella, it really isn't.
Antara might be replying: It isn't A Star Is Born, either -- but you're drinking like a camel driver on payday!

Plenty of Whitetail Deer in the the neighborhood at all hours. It has been colder than last week, but there's been more sunshine.

More updates on their way: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Webmaster's Notes: I am working on two Reflection pages (go to the Theatre X-net and SEE what I mean) -- the first is about Michael (Kidd Funkadelic) Hampton -- fabulous lead guitarist for the P-Funk All-Stars. He has always been outgoing and friendly towards me. I'll write about "Putting on the ONE" -- meaning an oversized jersey I bought at their Missoula concert in 1998. He was wearing a white version, and I was wearing a black version when we met after that gig. We both wore them backwards so the letters P-FUNK 1 showed at the front. "Nice shirt!" he said.
A few months later, during the NBA playoffs, that black P-FUNK 1 jersey did all the talking when the doorman at the Zephyr Club in Salt Lake City escorted me right through the door and I heard Lisa Rogers' beautiful voice for the first time! (See pictures below) That means I'll be making a second Reflections page.

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in February too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Thousand Yard Stare on Ariana Huffington's blogsite. A video of Jim Soular reading his poem Gold Star Mother.
Huffington Post -- Contagious Festival.

Media Watch: I had to fix a computer last night, and missed all but a few minutes of the Grammy Awards. Tonight it's Dancing with the Stars -- Drew & Cheryl and Tina Sparkle are the two best couples by far. We'll see if it's "Hammy," "Lips," or Jerry Rice who goes home this week. Tia Carrera was eliminated last Friday, and Barry Manilow's music was awful -- he forgot the words to his own songs repeatedly, but vocalized Unchained Melody without any lapses in memory. Unfortunately, his singing voice has no timbre, it's barely in tune, and is incapable of nuances. Yechhh!


(Left)A Photo-sketch of Lisa Rogers and her Disco Drippers band.
Lisa is the tall red-haired lady near the center.
(Her sister Tamara sang next to her when I was on the scene.)
(Right) Michael Hampton on the cover of his
Live In San Francisco album.

Beautiful mornings the last two days, but then dark gray clouds covered the sun most of the time. There was no rain or snow, just murk. Two yearling deer were feeding in the side and back yards this A.M.

More updates on their way: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in February too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Thousand Yard Stare on Ariana Huffington's blogsite. A video of Jim Soular reading his poem Gold Star Mother. Jim's stark realism is some of the best commentary about warfare that I know. Huffington Post -- Contagious Festival.

Media Watch: Superbowl XL was one of the worst-officiated games I've ever seen. Some of the penalties were called correctly, but some others weren't. The trouble was that they were mostly called against Seattle at critical times -- mistaken calls should be more random than that, and it left a bad impression. "My team" won, the Pittsburgh Steelers in this case, but I would have preferred a cleaner game.
I'm in the minority this year, but I liked the Rolling Stones' performance -- they made a lotta noise for six guys, played some good Rock N Roll for their second song, which was new, and did the most energetic live version of Satisfaction I've ever seen. Yeah, Mick Jagger was right -- they could have done Satisfaction at Superbowl I, but they were tired of it back then too.
Skating with Celebrities -- Experienced male skaters have ALL the advantages in this game. Nancy Kerrigan's partner could play hockey, but he couldn't cope with figure skates. (They are gone.) Bruce Jenner would be crazy to attempt any lifts or carries, so what's he going to do to compete with two experienced pairs skaters next week? Jillian was all bashed up, and Kristy Swanson seemed recovered from her chin-plant. I think this show will end up as Battle of the Blondes.


Kristy Swanson after skating practice...
Oops! Kristy Swanson in Wes Craven's Deadly Friend (1986)
A better than average combination of adolescent
whimsy and true horror.

Speaking of Horror Movies, here's one from India -- Kaal stars Bollywood hunks John Abraham, Ajay Devgan, and three domesticated Bengal Tigers. Shah Rukh Khan dances in a musical prolog. Devgan plays a re-embodied spirit named Kali Pratap Singh who oversees the death of stupid tourists in a wildlife refuge. Lowwww quality melodrama.

Snow melting to rain, alternating with sunshine all day. Coyotes and skunks overnight -- heard the former, smelled the latter.

More updates on their way: Theater X-Net

Featuring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley

Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!

Charity Alert: Keep that resolution in February too! Click on The Hunger Site every day.

In The Community: The Thousand Yard Stare on Ariana Huffington's blogsite. A video of Jim Soular reading his poem Gold Star Mother. Arianna asked for comedy and commentary. There is nothing funny about our country at war, but Jim's poetry is some of the best commentary about it I know. Huffington Post -- Contagious Festival.



Time Passages: Betty Friedan (1921-2006) First president of the National Organization for Women, and author of The Feminine Mystique which busted our society's callow marginalization of half it's citizens ... a phony bill of goods ... sold to women that left them unfulfilled, suffering from "the problem that has no name... A woman has got to be able to say 'Who am I, and what do I want out of life?' She mustn't feel selfish and neurotic if she wants goals of her own...

Media Watch: It's sublime-to-ridiculous time on the TV this weekend -- Taylor Branch, biographer of Martin Luther King is on C-SPAN right now, with a lot to say about King, his family, and the times we have lived through. Charles Osgood showed a couple of pieces about the so-called "Baby Boomers" on CBS Sunday -- one of which focused on tonight's Grammy Awards. The point was Rock & Roll is still popular, but other genres of music are even more popular now -- old news, old boy, and no tragedy whatsoever!
Superbowl Sunday -- number 40, A.K.A. Superbowl XL in Detroit, Michigan under a dome in a snowstorm. The Pittsburgh Steelers will face the Seattle Seahawks, with local hero Jerome Bettis running the ball for the Steelers starting about 4:30 P.M. MST. Rock & Roll synchronicity -- the Rolling Stones are performing at halftime -- much as I love that band, I wish Detroit's own Funk Brothers were doing an All-Motown Revue with a parade of young and old singers instead. Ya' can't always get what you wah-unt ...
"So, what's ridiculous about the Superbowl?" asks the NSA agent monitoring this website.
"People are actually buying TIVOs so that they can watch the COMMERCIALS and skip through the game!" sez I.
Last night there was even a network special about the Top 40 Superbowl Commercials -- in primetime, with additional commercials. My friend Brian W. Aldiss wrote that we live in a Science-Fictional world today, which makes a lot of traditional S-F redundant -- the evidence abounds.
When all else fails, there's BOLLYWOOD MOVIES!
Naach -- Good acting by male lead Abhishek Bachchan and female lead Antara Mali -- a dancer who has her own style. If there was a flaw, it looked as if the director was trying TOO hard to avoid cribbing Urmila Matondkar's Rangella. Sorry -- show biz stories are going to look like one another.
Main Hoon Na -- A strange hybrid of action, comedy, and romance in a single flick. Ms. Farah Khan, the director, is EXCELLENT and made the whole thing work scene by scene. (The plot wasn't credible in the least, but remember -- it's a Bollywood movie.) The whole cast performed well, especially superstars Suneil Shetty and Shah Rukh Khan. Sushmita Sen effortlessly played a beautiful, somewhat-older, chemistry teacher. (Shah Rukh's love interest) Zayed Khan was an alright juvenile leading man. The young Amrita Rao was very good as the female lead. During the credits, they showed little clips of cast and crew -- the associate producer held up an oversized check, and Shah Rukh Khan casually stepped up walked away with it. He earned his money, I must say, but I'm glad it wasn't my responsibility to pay him.
Musafir -- Produced and directed by CNN personality Dr. Sanjay Gupta a few years ago. It's a violent crime fantasy that is more sexist and salacious than your average Bollywood fare. Sanjay Dutt completely stole the show at the beginning (as usual) but we weren't in the mood to endure more of the movie's sadistic vibe, and turned it off.