Wildlife: FIVE Rooster Pheasants were chowing down in our front yard yesterday!

Charity Alert: The Rain Forest Site -- One click helps preserve the lungs of the world.

Weather: The snow melted under a Chinook wind on Saturday, then the clouds blew away, and it got pretty damn COLD -- not an Arctic blast by any means, but wintery for sure.

Media Watch: NFL Football -- Frank from Mad TV is funnier than Jimmy Kimmel, Jillian Barbarie hasn't been as outrageous as she could be lately. The Philadelphia Eagles had a very hard time with the lowly Washington Redskins. However, the stats say Washington has the not-so-lowly #2 Defense in the NFL, and Pittsburgh had the #1 Defense -- hmmm -- Philly looks vulnerable to a strong, physical defensive team.
Buster Keaton's The General was on TCM last night -- now THERE is a great silent film!
Keaton's talkie What -- No Beer? was terrible -- Jimmy Durante's actually billed as co-star, and the mismatch between his style and Buster's is unbearable, not to mention the ravages of alcoholism on Keaton.
I notice that the late Howard Hughes is all over the entertainment spectrum -- we watched The Carpetbaggers, even though it was LOUSY and mean-spirited. The Howard Hughes story, as I saw on the History Channel, is a clear and present warning that money itself doesn't buy happiness -- it can invite several incurable mental illnesses via social isolation. (Michael Jackson is only one contemporary example.)
I've met Melvin Dumars of Melvin and Howard fame, through my friend Trent Harris, the filmmaker. I actually believe the gist of his tale about meeting Mr. Hughes, although the "Mormon Will" was an obvious forgery. It's really too bad that such a gifted man could also be such a pathetic crank.

Charity Alert: Encourage reading! The Literacy Site

Weather: It's TIME for soft snowfalls, and we're getting them.

Wildlife: That California Blue Jay is still mooching around our bird feeder -- the guidebooks say he doesn't live here.

In the Community: College Xmas party tonight -- talent show and all. I'm supposed to videotape it -- can you spell B-L-A-C-K-M-A-I-L?

Media Watch: We enjoyed watching Charlotte Greenwood in Buster Keaton's rather drab Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath. The much-maligned Passionate Plumber is better than we thought too, even though Jimmy Durante is really mis-matched with Keaton as a partner.
Next is What, No Beer? in which Keaton looks like he is bottoming-out from the preview. It WAS his last feature film for many years.
Speak Easily was also a pretty grim effort, despite Durante and the doomed actress Thelma Todd, I hope it isn't worse than that.

Wildlife: Eagles are haunting and hunting around Middle Foy's Lake. The aereator is keeping a central pond area ice-free again, and all the birds love it.

Weather: Ice and snow -- starting to look like winter, even though most of the action has been south of Montana -- in Utah and Colorado.

Charity Alert: Animal Rescue Site -- Click once, help a lot!

In the Community: Sick as HELL during the Art Walk -- missed it this year.

Media Watch: While I was waking up from the fog of a fever, I saw some closely-fought battles on NFL Football Sunday and Monday nights. I also dozed in and out of a nice interview with Tom Wolfe on CSPAN.
TCM showed most of the movies Buster Keaton made at MGM. Not only was he sinking into alcoholism in the early sound era, but his failing marriage and an ill-advised contract with control-obsessed MGM also helped grease the skids for him.
The Cameraman was an alright film, although it may have been a touch too long, but Spite Marriage (silent) and Bedroom, Parlor, & Bath (sound) both look pretty misguided so far, except that the latter co-stars the wonderful Charlotte Greenwood. I gave up on Free and Easy (sound) -- it was TOO pathetic, and Keaton's Mr. Butz character was too much of a loser to be really funny, except in very short bursts.
Time eventually vindicated Buster Keaton the artist, and that's all that matters now.
Just for showing these films warts-and-all, and the none-too-flattering documentary Buster Keaton; So Funny It Hurts: Turner Classic Movies
Here's a Web Site with many Buster Keaton links: Juha's Buster Keaton Site
Oh yeah, while I was recovering, I was able to read a book about the city of Athens through the ages -- from village, to ruinous empire, to Roman "college town," to medieval backwater, to emotional capitol of post-Ottoman Greece -- amazing story -- amazing place.

Charity Alert: Click every day -- costs nothing but a few seconds of your time! The Hunger Site

Weather: If we are stuck with cold gray days, let's see some real snow, not this heavenly dandruff.

Wildlife: We saw "Buck," the mature male deer crossing the road in front of us last night as we were entering our neighborhood. Soon those antlers will fall right off.

In The Community: Kalispell's Annual Art Walk is tomorrow! I've made some posters for my ol' pal Joann at the Kalipell Grand, and this page on the Hockaday Museum of Art's site: Art Walk Preview

Media Watch: TV has sucked pretty badly since Halloween. The horror show of November 3rd hasn't helped either. I happened to see Ken Jennings' 75th appearence on Jeopardy, where he lost his championship, and was watching the next day when new champ Nancy Zerg lost her second game.
That means I've been reading -- not a lot of profundity on my list, just plowing through some things I got at the library sale. The best of that lot was J.G. Ballard's Drowned World from the early 60's.
I'm taking 'em ALL back for the library to sell again.
A.L. Rowse's translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey accompanied me through high school, but his out-of-focus book on the Tower of London goes onto the donation pile.
Anna Quindlen wrote Fictional London a pretty good book about the environs of London in literature, as seen through her eyes on her first visits to the place after 1995. I'd never buy it, but thanks to the library, I can enjoy it anyway.

Charity Alert: A new project, very worthy -- The Literacy Site -- Books given away!

Weather: The inversion broke yesterday about noon. Fresh air is so fine! The roof is 99 percent complete too.

Wildlife: I have to put deer fencing up -- part of my Aspen tree was stripped by marauding deer.

Media Watch: Monday Night Football -- Philadelphia's a good team -- they'll be ready for Pittsburgh if and when they meet them again.
The "Desperate Housewives" opening at the start was in bad taste, though. It could have been funny, but it wasn't written well enough -- deadpan delivery might have worked too, but it wasn't quite deadpan enough. Actress Nicolette Sheridan is a nice-looking woman, however! Yahoo Slideshow -- American Music Awards
Destiny's Child was featured in a video-intro to the second half (also half-baked and tentative). Their song was definitely influenced by "Bollywood" music -- similar to Britney's Toxic earlier this year.

Wildlife: California Blue Jays haunting the bird feeder -- looking for peanuts. The Stellar's Jays and Magpies enjoy the feast too. We are attracting Flickers and other woodpeckers with our suet cage hanging in the chokecherry tree.

Charity Alert: The Rain Forest Site

Weather: This low gray cold mist has darkened our skies all week! The new roof is finally going on alright, but this all-day lightlessness is depressing.

Media Watch: I've had VH1 Classic for awhile, but haven't noticed. I checked out the Rolling Stones' It's Only Rock and Roll video -- quite a lovely mess with that out-of-control foam near the end. VH1's final Surreal Life for this autumn was worth a look while washing dishes during halftime -- Brigitte Nielson's exhibitionist antics definitely dominated THAT series. (Charo, from her stage show in San Diego: "I hate her -- she has bigger tits than me!") VH1's Surreal Life Page
NFL football was fun -- two well-fought games in the afternoon, and a clinic by New England Sunday night (see VH1 above).
I read two C. J. Cherryh novels from the Fading Sun series back to back -- drawn-out and slogging, with unfortunate debts to Herbert's interminable Dune saga. I'm glad to say she's done better work than this. C. J. Cherryh's Official Pages

Wildlife: I had to navigate my way around three small groups of Whitetail deer in the Middle Foy's Lake neighborhood last evening.

Charity Alert: Children's Health Site

Weather: Steel gray and cold -- there's a layer of mist over the whole valley.

In the Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art had a get-some-new-members-signed-up party last night -- free admission and FREE BEER. (Over a hundred folks showed up!)
The annual "Art Walk" is next -- December 3, 2004. Hockaday Museum of Art
Seussville University on our campus is ramping up for the 17th of November -- I've been helping the people who are performing a play called "What Was I Afraid Of?" from one of Ted Geisel's "Sneeches" stories. I'll videotape it too, like last year.
My Current Events tape for Flathead Valley Community College was a real trip getting shot and edited this weeek -- interruptions and changes created many interesting sessions.
Bresnan Cable

Media Watch: I saw a film about the great engineer/producer Tom Dowd over the weekend. He's the man who produced Aretha Franklin's greatest singles, and many other fine recordings.
He was engineer on "Disraeli Gears," and told a story about recording "Sunshine of Your Love" -- mainly that it wasn't working out until Baker emphasized the downbeat (AKA "The One"), according to Dowd's suggestion.
So THATS the reason why "Sunshine" sounds funkier than the rest of Cream's catalog, at least to my ears!
BTW -- Nothing was said about Cream's late lamented producer Felix Pappalardi.
Tom Dowd is also my earliest quoted source of the word "funky" for describing music. I'm sure the term was used by others (Dowd's boss, Ahmet Ertigan, uses "funky" in the movie to describe the sound of Atlantic's studio.) -- but someone's gotta find it written down somewhere!
It's hard to believe that people like Louis Jordan, Little Richard, or Ike Turner weren't saying it too, in the 50's.
Reading: History of the Islamic World (up thru Saladin and the Ottoman Turks -- had to take the book back)
King Kong -- a rather bad novelization of the 1930's movie from 1976 -- I'd love to read Edgar Wallace's treatment from 1933!
I hated the Dino DiLaurentis movie, and have NO expectations that Peter Jackson's upcoming production will be any good at all. (His Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was like watching a kid play a video game on a Middle Earth theme -- uninspired and banal.)
Warner Brothers Movies 1927 - 1949 -- very opinionated, but I can relate to that! (Ruby Keeler had talent, no matter what anyone says.)

Wildlife: A huge Whitetail male was standing in the shadow of a tall pine overlooking the tennis court. Stick around the 'hood, Bucky-boy -- they can shoot 'ya if you wander too far!

Weather: Cold, but fairly dry -- dry enough for roofing. Those cedar shingles take forever to rip off and haul away.

Charity Alert: Food supplied free to the hungry.

In the Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art's website has a new web server:
Members Only Salon at the Hockaday -- 84 local artists on display!
We are having some problems, of course, but it will get much better!

Media Watch: I miss Halloween movies -- the horror show since November started is too much to watch.
I'm reading a collection of Tolkien criticism -- all of it written by his admirers. Tolkien's friend C.S. Lewis championed Lord of the Rings early, of course. If not for his efforts, and the rest of the Inklings wanting to hear more at the "Eagle and Child" pub in Oxford, I suspect Tolkien might never have written the trilogy.
W. H. Auden's advocacy of Lord of the Rings must have surprised literary society in the early 50's -- he was definitely a non-conformist, and considered a modernist in those days.
I started reading it as a teenager in 1966, during my junior year of high school, and was very glad when so many others thoughout the English-speaking world fell under the old professor's literary spell.
I had seen the "pirate" Ace paperbacks with Jack Gaughn's splendid covers on the bookstands, but when I first saw the Ballentine edition -- with J.R.R. Tolkien's request for "courtesy to living authors" quote on the front cover -- I decided to give Lord of the Rings a try one winter's evening. I finished it in early summer, and had a great time reading the appendices afterward -- allowing the imagery of Middle Earth to further color my imagination.
I never joined any societies, or learned Elvish, but my enthusiasm for Tolkien's work continues almost forty years after I first read him. There are better writers, and better fantasy novels, but Tolkien said so himself during his life, and his recommendations have led me to some fine books.

Election Tale: I stood in line for a little over TWO HOURS yesterday to vote. My wife was just out of surgery, and on crutches, so she qualified for "curbside voting." I drove her up to the polling place, a judge came out with her ballots, and she checked 'em off in about ten minutes. (The queue of ambulatory voters stretched backward for three-plus hours in duration while we left.)

Weather: On and off days of freezing rain. The roofers have started on our house by the way. They have to tar-paper their stripping work before they leave.

Wildlife: Daylight Savings Time means I don't have as much risk hitting deer on the roads in the mornings -- the evenings are DARK though -- high beams for me.

In The Community: I'm videotaping our college's current events this morning -- there's a break in the bad weather for an hour or two, so we're going outdoors!

Media Watch: Halloween weekend had some dandy dawg-assed shows on the satellite TV. FMC showed the laughingly pathetic Chandu the Magician from 1932 with Bela Lugosi, co-directed by the great production designer William Cameron Menzies. He was employed on Thief of Baghdad, Things to Come, Gone with the Wind, and Around the World in 80 Days, as well as being the director of the dawg-assed 'classic' Invaders from Mars.
IFC had Tom Savini introducing movies directed by Italian greats Mario Bava and Dario Argento.

Been awhile -- been busy!

Weather: First snowfall over this weekend. We are supposed to be getting a new roof -- hmmmm.

Wildlife: Bald Eagle hunting over Middle Foy's Lake. Snow Goose migrating with the Canadian Honkers. Huge rooster Pheasants grazing in the front and back yards.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

The One Book Montana Project:
Some Thoughts on James Welch's Fools Crow
By Michael Evans (mevans@fvcc.edu)
My apologies for having another appointment this evening, but I wanted to contribute a little something to the "One Book Montana" discussion anyway, so I'm writing down a few impressions from my reading of Fool's Crow.
(I was having FUN! I saw Repertory Dance Theater on tour that night and met my ol' friend Linda C. Smith again. Repertory Dance Theatre)
While dealing with the first chapter I realized that I would have to identify people and places by names which were short phrases instead of proper nouns. I was skeptical, but got used to the trick well enough to employ it as an aid to accepting a story about 1870's Montana from the point of view of the Blackfeet (Pikuni), as personified in the protagonist, White Man's Dog/Fools Crow.
Welch was immediately successful in depicting his Lone Eaters band of Pikuni as human beings, with their own recognizable needs and desires, and a particular way of life that unfolded in the first of many journeys in the book. By the end of this initial journey, our young, ill-favored protagonist establishes himself within the hierarchy of his band. It is an archetypical tale, with antecedents in many cultures, and his progress in taking on the responsibilities of manhood with attendant joys and disappointments is well-structured.
Since the Blackfeet were hunters and gatherers, the many journeys of Welch's characters are a reasonable method of painting the scenes in which the historical, fictional, and even fantastic action takes place. Welch's word-painting resembles watercolors done with broad brushstrokes -- there are a few key details, but the work derives its overall color from a limited palette, and distant impressions, rather than clear portraits, seem to characterize this novel for me.
To Welch's credit, he did not impose too much obvious meaning onto his narraratives. My forbearers, the Napikwans, or white men, are pictured as ruthless, violent, pushy, and uncaring -- indeed, many Whites behaved in those ways towards native people, especially after the Civil War. Fools Crow's band, as buffalo hunters, would be doomed to conflict with ranchers and town-builders. Other Blackfeet coped with traders from the east to some extent, but this book tells little about them.
Native Americans from other nations are named largely by insults, and they are either targets of the Blackfeet's mischief or wrath. The initial defining episodes of the book involve two attacks on the Crow tribe in central Montana. The first raid, where our protagonist wins patriarchal acceptance by the Lone Eaters, involves the theft of a substantial herd of horses, and the murder of hapless Crow guards. Cruel, but somewhat understandable retribution by the Crow's chief, considering losses which threaten his people's well-being, provokes a bigger attack by a confederation of Blackfeet bands, whereby White Man's Dog earns the name Fools Crow in battle. The ruinous stupidity of such gang-like behavior, while ignoring the threat of foreign invaders, who are hostile to everything the native people know, is left up to the reader to perceive.
The fragility of the Plains Indian's way of life is brought into relief during one of our protagonist's early journeys, while he's visiting the remnants of Little Dog's band -- a chief assassinated by his own people for being over-accommodating to the demands of U.S. soldiers.
Look around you...do you see many of our young men? No, they are off hunting for themselves, or drunk with the white men's water, or stealing their horses. They do not bring anything back to their people. There is no center here. That's why we have become such a pitiful sight to you.
Welch does not mention the fact that horses and guns were fairly recent additions to the lives of native people on the Great Plains. These tools made living off of buffalo herds much easier, but they were not as traditional as the context of the book might make them appear. The possession of them exacerbated rivalry and warfare, and the desire for more of them became ends in themselves. I personally believe that the free-roaming buffalo would have become extinct in another generation or two, without the extreme hastening effects of the railroad, and westward expansion of European immigrants -- who supplied guns and horses in the first place.
Fools Crow's resolution is only implied -- surrender to the power of the encroaching Whites, with survival of the Blackfeet's children as a tangible, but ill-defined goal. It is masked in spiritual visions, and awkward accommodating speech. Resignation to this degree must have been a painful experience to all members of a once-independent people, but their livelihood was outright doomed. How they survived the terrors of starvation, disease, and continuing hostility (disguised as neglect) by U. S. authorities is another subject, though.

In the Community: Real mellow opening reception at the Hockaday -- Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.
More to tell later -- for now, read about this fine organization: The Working Group

I've been away from the Blog-O-Sphere since I lost my rant&rave about Africa and literature TWICE! Trust me, it was a good essay -- maybe I'll reconstruct it sometime, but not today.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Weather: A very mild Autumn in the Flathead Valley this year -- maybe a little too much rain for the wheat farmers though.

Wildlife: Deer, deer, and more deer -- I'm glad that our gardens are behind fences. The bucks still have their antlers.

In the Community: I'm running a data projector for a new PBS documentary about our area called The Fire Next Time. It is produced by a company called "The Working Group" out of Oakland, California.
From PBS' Not In Our Town Project.
I'll be at the Liberty Theater in Kalispell all Wednesday afternoon and evening, then in Columbia Falls at their Community Center, 235 Nucleus Avenue, from 5 P.M. onward.
Besides that, we are hosting an opening at the Hockaday Museum of Art on October 14 from 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.
Also on the night of Oct. 14 -- Harmonica wizard Norton Buffalo with slide guitarist Roy Rodgers -- I'm not sure I'll make it, but I'd like to be there!

Media Watch: The Devil Bat (1945) with Bella Lugosi on TCM last night! We taped a Josephine Baker movie from 1935 (Princess Tam Tam -- French with English sub-titles) The dance sequences had riffs overtly stolen from Busby Berkeley, but that's alright!
Debates? What debates? Just tune in to JibJab.com for all the dirt they REALLY want to throw.

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Weather: Ragged blue to slate gray skies all week!

Wildlife: The two tiny deer grazed by our bedroom window, and brought their mom with them.

Overheard on Campus: We were getting drunk, and I called her a bitch and she called me a whore, and we haven't been on the best of terms since then. Hmmm - makes sense.

Weather: Damn house is NEVER gonna get painted with all this rain.

Wildlife: Two extremely small baby Whitetail Deer were grazing just off the back deck the other morning. We thought they might be dogs at first.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

In the Community: We got free passes for a valley-wide home show. It was fun! I'll tell you that the Habitat For Humanity house had a floor plan that was equal to other, more expensive, homes and better than some others. There's a dichotomy here in this under-regulated area between poorly-planned housing developments and poorly-planned mansions in the woods. Poor planning will bite all property owners no matter how much money they might have had before they bought their houses.

Media Watch: The very talented Urmila Matondkar in Ek Haseena Thi, co-starring with Saif Ali Khan. It was a Bollywood crime movie, with a slow start and a belabored, crappy ending, but the acting was very good. Fan sites for Bollywood actors can be obsessional or stupid, but these are somewhat informative --
Urmila Matondkar - Actress
Urmila Matondkar - OK fan site
Yet another book about the Roman Empire -- it's a textbook actually, that I bought at a garage sale -- fairly linear and straightforward, with much-appreciated paragraphs about original sources. I find myself reading more about the Caesars and gradual disintegration of the Hellenistic civilization in my middle age than I read about the rise of the empire when I was young.
The author emphasized the historical mystery of what caused the Roman Empire to fall. I wonder why it was so strong for so long a time. Most of what we read today are stories of treachery within and conflicts without.
This particular author points to the half-century between the ruin of the Severan Dynasty (AD 235) and the reorganization of the empire by Diocletan (AD 284) as a critical period where the abovementioned forces became such a part of the Mediterranean world's existence that the temporary recoveries of Diocletian and Constantine did little or nothing to reverse the depopulation, thieving, invasions, and civil warfare which marked those times.
One thing that supports his point is the degradation of sculpture that shows in the examples of the portrait busts from Marcus Aurelius (circa AD 170) to Caracalla (AD 211) to Constantine (AD 324). Elegance and surity of craft gradually disappears -- quite a few art historians solemnly declare the Arch of Constantine to be proof that the ancient world itself had passed away by the early 4th Century A.D.
(They may be exaggerating, and the author of this book disagrees with them.)
I personally see the actual extinction of the craftspeople and artists who made the great classical monuments from these examples. Their skills were lost in Europe until they were painstakingly re-created the 15th Century A.D.
The author also wrote about the negative effect of wealthy upper classes in the Imperium literally bribing their way out of contributing to public needs or services, and shifting the burden to the general public -- ruining whatever middle classes were in existence.
I have a sinking feeling about today's society as our government takes on the supposedly-discredited folly of empire, and an all-too-similar class war occurs right now. It's dangerous to draw parallels with modern problems and the Roman world, but basic math works in this case, or any other case in history.
My opinion of Severus and his progeny is that they were active contributors to every problem that afflicted the long-suffering people of the empire. Severus showed up as a strongman after the assassination of Commodus, but subjected the Mediterranean to warfare without relief -- primarily to maintain his own power.
(There are African-American scholars who hold up Lucius Septimius Severus as an example of an ancient African of distinction -- I'm not sure of his race, or if that even means anything, but he WAS from North Africa.)
Those scholars who point to the death of Marcus Aurelius (last of the "Good Emperors" and Commodus' father) in AD 180 as the beginning of the empire's decline might just be the most correct, but it took almost 300 more years before total collapse ensued in the west -- meaning that short-lived, brutal German kingdoms finally took over the map of Europe. Ignorance, superstition, misery, poverty, and chaos became the way of life, and we call those times "Dark Ages" with good reason. My ancestors sure made a botch of things, despite the ugly things written about the Romans and their heirs.
The Roman Empire
AFTERTHOUGHTS: When I was a teenager I read the novel Julian by Gore Vidal. It was a best-seller at the time, and painted a vivid portrait of the late empire in middle-brow prose. Looking back, I see Vidal's picture of the 4th Century as a mirror-image of his own privileged society in the 20th Century, but he's not the only one to project his world onto the lost Roman world! Others include General Lew Wallace, the Durant brothers, Robert Graves, Lloyd C. Douglas, and innumerable bathrobes-and-slippers movie-makers like C.B. DeMille, Delmer Daves (Demetrius & the Gladiators with fabulous Julie Newmar dancing the "timeless hoochie-koo"), and even Ridley Scott, who should have known better. (At least Russell Crowe became a star as a result of Scott's morbid fantasy Gladiator.)

Charity Alert: One-click wonder -- The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Weather: Perfect Autumn days, too bad it's only early September. It gets cold too early here in NW Montana.

Wildlife: The Redwing Blackbirds are gathering in flocks of three dozen or more.

In the Community: I found myself at the Museum at Central School when news photographer Karen Nichols was given this tip: Honoring the more than 1,000 American military men and women who have died in the Iraq war, a group of about 20 Flathead Valley residents gathered at Depot Park on Thursday evening to reflect on and pray for the dead soldiers and their families. Candlelight vigils were held across the country Thursday evening to remember the dead. From left are Dianne Grove, Peggy Casey, Marion Gerrish, Lynn Stanley, Andy Shirtliff, Pauline Sjordal and Donna Harrison. According to the Associated Press, an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 Iraqis have been killed since the United States invaded in March 2003.
The Daily Internet: The Daily Inter Lake Newspaper, Kalispell, Montana

Media Watch: The movie Lagaan, Once Upon A Time In India is a good melodrama, but the intermission sure was welcome. It was nominated for a Foreign Language Academy Award in 2002 -- along with "Amélie" from France, "Elling" from Norway, "No Man's Land" from Bosnia & Herzegovina (the winner), and "Son of the Bride" from Argentina. Lagaan's web site
MTV Video Music Awards rerun -- a pretty dull show this year, especially in the wake of this same company's embarassingly lousy job at the Super Bowl. I heard the name Christina Aguilera and held my thumb off the remote. I like to hear her sing. She did a full-production duet with rapper Nelly that was dazzling! Nelly was out of his class, but since he has none, I guess it didn't matter so much. Here's her official website. (There's plenty of unofficial sites out there too with tacky pictures and stuff. I guess that talent alone is not enough.) CHRISTINA AGUILERA

Wildlife: Muskrats are becoming active on the lake in the evening as Autumn develops.

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site

Weather: Cool in the morning, but sunny all day.

Media Watch: This bloody blogger site wasn't working very well yesterday, and I was fearful of losing my post about Oriana Fallaci's book, but it was still in the "Edit Posts" section today, and I got it uploaded at last.
More about current shadows from Fallaci's Interviews with History -- I finished reading it last night...
Tragically-flawed Ali Bhutto raised a remarkable daughter -- Benazir Bhutto, who became Prime Minister of Pakistan twice. Benazir Bhutto
That country's history has many dark rooms -- Ali Bhutto's execution was just one of them. Their sponsorship of the Taliban is another, but their part in nuclear proliferation may be the darkest yet. As far as the REAL war on terrorism is concerned, many of our worst enemies and best friends live within the borders of Pakistan.
Mohammed Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, preceded Ayatollah Khomeni into the fires of Hell by almost a decade. His son claims to have no desire for the Peacock Throne, and I hope he's not a sociopathic liar like his old man was. Reza Pahlavi....
Today, the government of Iran is scrambling to aquire nuclear weapons to avert an invasion by U.S. forces, or to take horrible revenge if the Bush administration initiates that madness.
NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT -- VH1 Bands Reunited tried to perform that trick with ABC, one of the most successful English "New Wave" groups. Since only two of the four guys showed up for the reunion chat, VH1 had some ace studio musicians fill-in for the missing members in a not-too-bad performance of their hits. Luckily, Martin Fry -- lead singer/songwriter, and owner of the ABC name was one of the members on board.
VH1.com : Shows : Bands Reunited : Main Page
We watched the first half of Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India -- one of the most accessible Bollywood hit movies for "Westerners." It's a melodrama for sure, stocked with all sorts of stereotypes, including some real bastard British officers, but it's done very well. Aamir Khan is the male lead, and also the producer. Lagaan's web site

Wildlife: Canada Geese are bedding down on our lake at night -- they don't call them "Honkers" for nothing.

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

Weather: Blue skies, sunshine -- canoe rides on the lake!

Media Watch: TV or not TV -- Dems and RepubliCONS are yelling at each other -- turn that crap OFF! Hmmm -- History Detectives on PBS -- OK for an hour's watching.
History Detectives . Home | PBS
I'm going to read some more! The shadows of the powerful people from Oriana Falacci's Interviews With History are still haunting our world.
Sonia Gandhi, Indira's Italian-born daughter-in-law, is the head of the Congress Party of India. The murders of the blood relatives of Nehru's family have put her in charge of their legacy, until her own children can grow to maturity. She's been a canny politician -- Congress unseated the ruthless BJP, and she declined the honor of Prime Minister in order to do a better job for her adopted country.
Sonia Gandhi Indian National Congress Party Chairman
King Hussein of Jordan passed away of natural causes, despite the whole damn Middle East seemingly trying to aasassinate him. His son Abdullah II, and American-born Queen Noor seem to have started off well, as far as public relations go.
King Abdullah 2
The Palestinian state which was forcibly split off from Egypt and his father's kingdom has yet to be fully born, but is mostly Israel's problem now, since they first did the splitting. Yasser Arafat is still the same dishonest double-dealing martinet he was then. (The equally-dishonest double-dealing Likud criminals who run Israel today were not in power when this book was published in 1976.)
Welcome to Palestine - Land, People, News, Business, History and Culture (don't expect objective reporting about this subject on any web site -- the situation is just plain UGLY)
Henry Kissinger is alive, well, and still employed by the powerful as a professional liar. If Pinochet is really brought to justice in Chile, maybe Kissinger's part in the junta's perfidies will officially come to light. BBC NEWS | In Depth | Newsmakers | Henry Kissinger: Haunted by his past
General Giap is still alive at 92! COSMIC BASEBALL ASSOCIATION-1997 VO NGUYEN GIAP

Wildlife: All of the Osprey nests along the north shore of Flathead Lake are empty -- the migration has officially started. Florida's gonna be rough pickin's this year.

Weather: Somebody tagged the whole sky with gray spray-paint, and we're getting a little rain.

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Media Watch: I admit, with some guilty feelings, to switching between CNN and the Weather Channel during Hurricane Frances' landfall for many hours on Friday night. The unfolding of the destruction was facinating.
Sunday's CSPAN started out alright with Art Spiegelman on In Depth at the Strand bookstore in New York, but after an hour or so, for some reason, it turned into some other kind of show -- they had people come up and argue with one another -- often stupidly, I must add.
Blowhard Nat Hentoff was on for a few minutes too. He was only about 30% as bad as usual. I wish he'd stick to the subject of music, although his memories of Strand bookstore and NYC's Greenwich Village over 40-plus years were cool.
BOOK TV.ORG
I'm also reading Oriana Fallaci's interviews with powerful people, and her wonderful essays about each event. (Intervista con la Storia -- Rizzoli, 1974, published as Interview with History translated by John Shepley -- Liveright, 1976)
You don't have to agree with her, but she's the most emotionally REAL author of these times. Oriana Fallaci: journalist, interviewer and author

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Wildlife: Five bears have died on the east end of the Flathead Valley from gunfire and car collisions in the last few weeks -- we are crowding these animals to death with our lifestyle -- taking their natural food and encroaching on their foraging grounds.

Weather: Low clouds all day, but no rain in the valley. No house painters though -- I think they're chicken!

Media Watch: Line of Control, a Bollywood film about warfare in the mountains above Kashmir. The well-known faces are all in it, plus the sentimental songs and dancing. It's pretty good, as far as acting goes, but it's a brutal, intense subject, and a basically true story.
One understandable movie compromise was the actors wearing camouflage uniforms in colors making them stand out against the stark mountainous terrain, unlike actual soldiers who would need to blend into the background to survive.

From the intense to the ridiculous -- Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog was on CNN's coverage of the GOP convention, and had plenty of material to keep him busy.

Wildlife: We only see Goldfinches in the Spring and Autumn -- during the migration seasons. We are seeing them now!

Weather: Cooler, cloudy, but drier than last week -- a couple of short thunder-squalls yesterday, with a nice rainbow following the second.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

In the Community: Gotta change the Hockaday's kiosk display at the Kalipell Mall this afternoon. We have the Members Only salon show coming up too.
Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.
Here's another site from Eureka, Montana -- seven miles from the Canadian border:
** SUNBURST COMMUNITY SERVICE FOUNDATION **

Media Watch: I'm reading Before Lewis and Clark: The French Dynasty that Ruled America's Frontier by Shirley Christian, a book about an originally-French, mixed-nationality, fur-trapping clan named Chouteau whose progeny founded a number of important cities and towns in western North America. There's a town called "Choteau" in Montana, and I just might find myself reading about it before long.
The Guru was re-re-run on the satellite last night -- funny movie, and a light-hearted exploitation of a few cliches of Bollywood films. It stars Heather Graham, Marisa Tomei, and a London-born actor of Indian descent named Jimi Mistry.
The Guru - Movie Site
Chloroform bacteria in the waters of communication -- I'm trying to be informed about the GOP convention without anger poisoning my life.

Wildlife: Migrating ducks -- mostly Mallards, but there's far fewer males than I've ever seen before. That Bald Eagle is still soaring over Middle Foy's Lake.

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Weather: Still nice -- sunny, but not hot, with pleasant temperatures at night. This full-moon cycle has been spectacular too. We smelled smoke just after dark last night, but I suspect it might have been somebody's ill-advised campfire at the west end of the lake.

Media Watch: ANOTHER book about J.R.R. Tolkien -- Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship by Colin Duriez. This one's about his long friendship with C.S. Lewis and "The Inklings," their small literary circle. I have read better books, but it's short, and tells a little more about Lewis' move to Cambridge than others.
David Byrne's movie True Stories on TRIO Network last night. It introduced me to the awesome talent of John Goodman almost twenty years ago, even though he'd done some other films at the time. The late "Pops" Staples had a small, but important role, and Spaulding Gray (RIP) played a powerful businessman with a tenuous perception of reality. The great Tejano accordianist Flaco Jimenez played a song too.
Other highlights -- Wild Wild Life done a a lip-synch in a nightclub. Love For Sale as a step-removed cable TV ad among many TV ads. (These segments had the other Talking Heads - Jerry Harrison, Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth, in them.)
From Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth's website Tom Tom Club :

For three years Chris and Tina took time off from Tom Tom Club to concentrate their efforts on their Talking Heads career. In March 1984 they performed what would be the Talking Heads' last concerts, headlining summer festivals in Australia and New Zealand with The Eurythmics, Simple Minds, INXS and The Pretenders. While waiting for Talking Heads to regroup after the tour, Chris and Tina took an invitation from the B-52's to guest with them on a tour of New England in December 1984. In early 1985 they flew to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to perform with the B-52s for the first "Rock In Rio," a national ten-day televised concert series with a live audience of 360,000. Chris and Tina returned from Rio to join Jerry and David in New York to make Talking Heads' Little Creatures (1985) and True Stories (1985 -1986). True Stories the album was finished in spring of 1986 in Los Angeles where David was making his True Stories the film, which also featured videos and music of the band. Between projects in September of 1985 and unable to bear any longer the heatless nights of winter in their commercially-zoned Long Island City loft, Chris and Tina had moved with their small son, Robin, to a fully-heated barn of a home, Cock Island, in nearby Connecticut. Their second son, Egan, joined them there in August of 1986. Their loft had been Talking Headquarters since 1976, and it was there that Chris, Tina, Jerry and David once again sat down to write for Naked (1988) in the spring of 1987. In June the band flew to Paris to record what was to be their last studio album. When they returned to New York in September, Chris and Tina were asked to produce Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers' Conscious Party album, an offer that would be repeated for One Bright Day (Virgin) in early 1989.
A pretty good fan page -- Jerry Harrison Page
Another page from the same energetic fan, it's about the original quartet and the ubiquitous David Byrne -- Francey's TALKING-HEADS.NET
The best (and FUNKIEST) version of the Talking Heads included Adrian Bellew, Steve Scales, Nona Hendryx, original Bride of Funkenstein Lynn Mabry, and my friend Bernie Worrell: .: BernieWorrell.com :.

Wildlife: A Bald Eagle was perched in a pine tree across the lake yesterday, taking a few soaring flights on occasion.

Weather: A beautiful moonlit night, followed by a sunny day -- house painting anyone?

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

In the Community: The Discovery Auction could have been better attended, but they're rebuilding Highway 93 outside of the site where we held it. Sure was interesting negotiating my way through the reflector-posts while driving back in the dark -- couldn't see a damn thing except red-orange stripes!
Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.

Media Watch: A Bollywood version of Witness. It was fairly sensuous for an Indian movie, and the hook of the plot made sense in an Indian context. (Reincarnated Buddhist Lama vs. Amish child.) They are both pretty lame dramas, but the handsome cop gets the gorgeous heroine at the end of the Bollywood flick.
NYC protests against Bush and the GOP, plus skeptic Michael Shermer in another ill-advised non-debate with a snake-oil salesman on CSPAN. Is it really discourse when nobody's listening?
Frank Frazetta; Painting With Fire -- a movie about one of my favorite artists on IFC. It kisses ass almost as much as it informs, but the influence of this man's work makes him deserve at least ONE film in his lifetime.
Frank Frazetta Art Gallery/Paintings

Theater Update: More from the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus --
September 3-5. 2004
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at
3rd Annual Sideshow Gathering
at Inkin' The Valley
Ramada Plaza Hotel in Public Square
Wilkes Barre, PA

for more info go to The Sideshow Gathering at The Inkin' The Valley Tattoo Convention
Bindlestiff co-founders Keith Nelson and Stephanie Monseu will perform at
8:40 Friday night.

* * * * * * * * * *

Saturday Oct 9
East Falls Fall Festival
Philadelphia, PA

Oct.9, Buckaroo Bindlestiff Wild West Show, 11am, for Kids and families.
Brought to you by the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.
A Wild West Show with Cirkus pizzazz.

Oct. 9, "Bindlestiff Cabaret," Evening. A"conflagration of circus and
burlesque" presented by Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.
Must be 18+ to attend.

Further information coming soon.

* * * * * * * * * *

January 13, 14 and 15
CSPS
Cedar Rapids, IA
Details coming soon.

* * * * * * * * * *

February and March 2005
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus presents
NYC season
Details coming soon.

* * * * * * * * * *

Need to see a bit of Bindlestiff?
Photographer Gregory Costanzo has captured many a Bindle
Visit: Gregory Costanzo.com

* * * * * * * * *

Weather: Low clouds and lotsa scattered showers as far as you can see. The fire season is officially a "wash-out" this year. Good! After the month-long smoke of August 2003, I enjoy the change. (The house painter is coming NEXT week.)

Wildlife: A squirrel was chasing a raven across the lawn here at the college. The bird got bored with that game and flew away.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

In the Community: The Hockaday Museum of Art is doing TWO events tonight -- an auction, plus staying open for "Fun Friday." I'm going to shoot pictures all over the valley!
Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.

Media Watch: I finished a book about J.R.R. Tolkien's experiences just before and after World War I. Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth by John Garth. It went on a bit about details within The Book of Lost Tales, but was otherwise well-paced. I learned much more about the origins of his writings and mythological interests.
One of the very first passages I ever read by Tolkien was in the introduction to Lord of the Rings:
One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918, all but one of my close friends were dead.
This book has Tolkien's calligraphic imprint on the cover, and is published by Houghton-Mifflin. The very personal information inside leads me to believe that it is countenanced by Christopher Tolkien and his family.

Charity Alert: Do this FIRST! The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Wildlife: It's been easier to see deer beside the road on the way to work, as Autumn approaches. They were scarce all summer.

Weather: Pink morning, heavy clouds, but no rain so far -- will the house painter show up?

Media Watch: SciFi Network showed a misbegotten remake of I Married A Monster From Outer Space. The 1958 original was dull, but this humorless cowflop was even worse. Congrats to the late actors Susan Cabot and Thomas Tryon for doing their level best in the 50's as "...this hack sitting next to the camera wouldn't let us change a line," to quote Tryon, who retired from acting ten years later to write popular novels. (The movie based on Tryon's best-selling book The Other was shown a few days earlier on FLIX Network. )
I saw part of Pay It Forward with Helen Hunt, Diane Lane, Hayley Jo Osment, and some other good actors in a slightly better-than-average TV movie from 2001. A thunderstorm interrupted the satellite signal, and we couldn't see how it ended.

Back from Vacation! Did you miss me? Since nobody reads this blog as yet, consider that a joke. Synopsis:
We drove across Montana, North Dakota, and into Northern Minnesota along Highway 2 -- a long freakin' stretch that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.
We stayed in Crookston, Minnesota for a few days doing family research. Many thanks to the Polk County Historical Museum and the Polk County Records Department for their enthusiastic assistance!
The trip down to Minneapolis/St. Paul wasn't near as nice, but we snagged almost two dozen Bollywood videos and CDs in Northern Minneapolis along a row of (East) Indian markets. The rest of the day generally sucked, except for a strangely delightful trip to the Mall of America that night.
Our last stop in Minnesota was the Spam Museum on our way out of there -- fun place.
All through South Dakota on the way back, we encountered groups of motorcycles coming from and going to the Sturgis Rally in the Black Hills. It spread a whole new layer of interest over the kitchy tourist traps on our route -- from the Corn Palace to Devil's Tower.
It took a day and a half of hard, fast driving to get home from Devil's Tower, but the cats were waiting for us!

Weather: Rainy and dark -- our house painter is supposed to start today.

Wildlife: The birds are very unhappy about our removing the feeders on the deck and the eaves for repainting.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

In the Community: I had to videotape at the college, and pack up a traveling show at the art museum before I was even unpacked myself!

Media Watch: Thanks to the Weather Channel for all the help on the road! Gawd! Some of those Bollywood DVDs have subtitles that lag by minutes relative to the dialog.

Weather: Dry and warm -- if you think there's no pollution here, you're wrong. The valley is filling up with dust and car exhaust. The ol' "Big Sky" has a lot of brown in it's blue.

Wildlife: Cedar Waxwings are moving in to the neighborhood -- we usually see them in fall. The Canada Geese are starting to migrate too -- our local goslings are getting awfully big, and might join the exodus soon.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Media Watch: Ugh! Mo (I love the 70's, 80's, 90's) Rocca as a correspondent at the political conventions -- with people like Larry King pretending to laugh at his lines. I reluctantly admit to getting used to Pauley Shore about ten years ago, but I can't say I welcome even MORE smug whiners on TV news shows. Speaking of has-beens from previous decades, I saw Donnie (New Kids On The Block) Wahlberg in a fragment of some crappy crime flick.
Books -- Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care by John McWhorter isn't as reactionary as the title sounds!
Before It Happens to You by Jonathan Bernstein M.D. recommends taking a combination of aspirin, ACE-inhibitors, statins, and beta blockers as a preventitive regimen against future heart attacks or strokes. Of course I'm thinking about it -- you are much worse-off after a coronary failure, if not crippled or dead.
Poplorica By Martin J. Smith and Patrick J. Kiger is very informative and entertaining!
Poplorica Main Menu Page
Quote: Pop culture meets pop reference in this irreverent tour of surprising twentieth-century events and inventions that forever changed the way we live. Journalists Smith and Kiger forage through technology, business, entertainment, sports and sociology in these lively, eclectic profiles of twenty unusual events, inventions and individuals that irrevocably altered modern life. They reveal the real stories and significance of events as unheralded as Alfred Kinsey's disastrous honeymoon, Betty Ford's intervention, and the birth of celebrity voyeurism, as well as the invention of Big Bertha golf clubs, pantyhose, super-absorbent disposable diapers, and permanent press clothes They measure the social impact of TV dinners, black velvet paintings, and the spectacular maneuver that forever changed sports (Dr. J's slam-dunk) -- in provocative essays guaranteed to educate, illuminate and entertain.

Wildlife: Awoke in the night last Friday to the sounds of loud splashing and growling cats. I went outside with a flashlight, and there were a half-dozen baby racoons sitting in our box feeder, devouring the sunflower seeds. We took their picture as they posed for us. Mama Racoon was down on the lawn, and yes, the box feeder was EMPTY in the morning. They haven't been back since. (We've refilled it!)
Yesterday there were two sightings of Osprey fishing.
This morning a huge Bald Eagle perched itself on the west side of Middle Foy's Lake.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Weather: Generally hot, but this is Montana -- some scattered leaves are turning yellow and red.

Media Watch: What am I reading? Juggling three books, and I can't remember a single title.
The art museum's website is up-to-date: Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana. We've been working our tails off there!
I've re-listed the Northwestern Montana Historical Society's Looking Back on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6912861292
Ridiculous -- Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital was put out of it's misery the other week, with a re-animator hook in it's tail. (Leave this zombie in the ground!) That decapitated guy never got his head back either -- too bad -- Jesus II shoulda performed a miracle for him when he was resurrected. ABC.com: Kingdom Hospital
Sublime -- Trio Network re-ran Lonesome Highway, A History of Country Music, which was actually produced by BBC Bristol. There was some good footage of Hank Williams, Lefty Frizell, and others. They skipped a lot of the popular side of the industry in favor of a few key figures, and finished the series with alotta praise heaped upon Gillian Welch. I saw her live in Salt Lake a few years ago, and she was PHENOMENAL!
TRIO: pop, culture, tv.

Wildlife: Regular visits by hummingbirds, especially in the evening. It looks like the Loons have moved back to Big Foy's Lake -- distant calls, but no sightings for weeks.

Weather: A perfect summer day on Tuesday. Clouds are gathering on the western horizon today.

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

In The Community: "Procrastination Blues" at the Hockaday -- Monday was supposed to be the deadline for the Lens On Montana photo show. The pictures shoulda been ready to hang too. Well, a whole lotta stuff came in Tuesday, with almost as many excuses as there were photos! They'll all be hanging up by August 5th. Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.

Media Watch: Speak Easily from 1932 with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante. An outhouse special -- it's really sad that Keaton, who made some of the greatest films of all time, fell so far down after his heyday in the 20's. You can blame alcoholism, I guess, for some of his problems -- but that movie just plain sucked -- it was about a theatre show that sucked too. You'd think they could do better with Jimmy Durante in the cast, but they didn't.
It bore a family resemblance to 42nd Street, being a backstage comedy -- there was even a blustery artistic director ala Warner Baxter (musta been a social stereotype then), but that's damning it with very faint praise.
It was part of a TCM series of flicks featuring Thelma Todd -- she was sexy, beautiful, and funny, but is famous today mostly for being found dead in a still-unsolved Hollywood mystery.
Other movies she made included Horsefeathers and Monkey Business with the Marx Brothers, plus the first movie version of Dashell Hammett's Maltese Falcon, featuring Bebe Daniels, Ricardo Cortez, Dudley Digges, and Una Merkel.
One web page: Denny Jackson's Thelma Todd Page
Another page: Thelma Todd

Weather: About 1 1/2 inches of rain fell in less than two hours Monday AM -- I'm glad we didn't flood at the Art Museum, because City Hall and other nearby places had water in their basements. It also rained a little this morning. After a couple of over-90-degree days at the end of last week, it is a welcome relief.

Wildlife: Two Redtailed Hawks were soaring overhead just east of my house. The deer herd is back -- mostly around Little Foy's Lake -- They have little spotty fawns in tow, and a few of our garden flowers are missing tops lately. Good thing I left those fenceposts in place!

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

In the Community: The Compleat Works of Willm. Shkspr (Abridged) outdoors at the college.
The P.A. started crackling, so they shut it off -- it was a calm evening in an ampitheater, so the voices were still heard by everyone. I was pulled out of the crowd for one audience-participation section, made everyone laugh, and got outta there without blowing it -- the actors and writers did the whole job -- all I had to do was react.
One site of many: The Compleat Works of Willm. Shakspr. (abridged)
We have to tear down ALL the shows at the Hockaday Museum of Art, and get a whole new set of exhibits up on the walls by August 5. We are also having our annual outdoor Arts In the Park festival July 23 thru 25, and an after-hours Fun Friday in association with Downtown Kalispell businesses on July 30. (It will be the beginning of my fifth year at The Hockaday.) I'm going on vacation right afterwards!
The director has to cope with a Bibler Gardens fund-raiser for us during the evenings of August 2-6, and the aforementioned reception on the 5th. I hate to miss that reception, but there's someone else on-staff who's able to take pictures now. (She's cat-sitting for us too.)
Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.

Media Watch: I can't remember EVERYTHING!
John Huston's Asphalt Jungle was an effective, but overly linear film noir. It helped the young, struggling Marilyn Monroe become a star, for good or bad. We also taped a bunch of B and C grade pre-1936 comedies from TCM last night. (MY kind of cinema -- vaudville on film!)
I've been reading a collection of 100 stories by Ray Bradbury. The book was published in 1980, so there's many more to read now. Ray Bradbury Online - Bibliography - Books
I was pleasantly surprised by The Terminal last weekend -- an entertaining but shallow Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg movie. Catherine Zeta-Jones had an unfortunately demeaning role as an unnecessary love-interest. Nothing in the story survived re-examination, but it was a pleasant ride if you didn't think much. I rarely go to the movies anymore, but since we don't have air-conditioning (see Weather), it was a good evening out.
Here's the sadder back-story: Urban Legends Reference Pages: Travel (Stranded at the Airport)

Weather: Yesterday's temperature of 92 degrees Fahrenheit was hot, no matter where you live. There was a very pleasant rain shower at about 2 AM this morning.

Wildlife: The flowers and hanging pots have been much superior to sugar-water feeders in attracting Hummingbirds. The damn hanging pots need to be messed with regularly because the plants get rootbound, stop draining water, and start to rot -- %$#@ work!

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Media Watch: Finished John Krakauer's Under The Banner of Heaven. The focus of the book is the horrible Lafferty murders in the early 80's, and I have a weak stomach for that kind of stuff, so I skipped over big chunks of narrarative. I get depressed reading about the rampant child abuse among the Mormon Fundamentalist patriarchy, knowing they continue to prosper under our corrupt legal system. Krakauer's rage showed through his prose on this subject, perhaps blunting his point.
Reviews etc. of this book: Random House
An Interview: Book Report Interview with John Krakauer
Child abuse is a serious problem in the "regular" Mormon church too. Like the Catholics, the LDS hierarchy protects criminals in it's midst while the innocent suffer.
I'm still ashamed to have been a member of this dreadful cult, even though I was only a kid and had no real choice in the matter. I thankfully never suffered any sexual abuse myself, but my nearly-next-door-neighbor did, and became an abuser too -- finally going to prison after betraying the trust of dozens of young boys as an LDS leader.
I'm still trying to get off of all the hangups I developed by going to their meetings, participating in their services, and especially those which resulted from my own disorganized lashing-out against the whole ugly institution.
Hey! The movie Brigham Young was on FMC last weekend -- Vincent Price as founding LDS (Mormon) prophet Joseph Smith -- what could be scarier than that!?
The Jeopardy guy from Utah won over a million bucks -- he's going to give 10 percent to those lousy Mormon pirates -- smart as he may be, he's still delusional about some things.
And now for something completely different: Hedwig and the Angry Itch was on the satellite. This very dark comedy isn't to everyone's taste, but it's a better-than-average movie, especially if you like Rock n' Roll.

Charity Alert -- easier is impossible: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Weather: Blue skies -- hot day ahead. It didn't rain at all yesterday.

Wildlife: A lot of noise outside last night! It was impossible to see what was going on without a moon, but the warm temperature brought out some kind of prowling thing. (Unh uh -- no skunk-smell)

Media Watch: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy UK Version -- I don't know if this show was a pilot or not, but the crew seemed to get in each others' way. The interior designer worked hardest, of course, but the characters and roles of the makeover guys were not readily distinct. The client was an engaging personality, and cleaned up handsomely.
Damn! London is sure a concrete jungle (as is New York). It would be depressing to have to live in a place where anything green or growing is present only by neglect, accident, or extraordinary work.

In the Community: The local stamp collectors club had a special after-hours meeting at the Hockaday Museum of Art and had a grand time absorbing the Graceful Envelope show. Hockaday Museum of Art - Prime visual arts resource in Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.

Weather: Getting almost hot for this place -- high humidity makes it feel worse. The wind damn near blew away the Summer Theatre last weekend at the college. Today it's clouding over -- virga dangling everywhere, but no rain hitting the ground -- makes sense, they'd be squalls then, wouldn't they?

Wildlife: Eagles in the morning, the cries of Loons at daybreak, Greibes fishing all day, and various families of ducklings coming ashore to graze beneath the hanging feeder in our back yard.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Media Watch: Yeah, we're tuning into Jeopardy to watch that guy from Salt Lake City shoot for a million bucks too.
Speaking of Salt Lake City -- John Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven gives an accurate, if slightly over-heated, history of the Mormon Church. It ain't a peaceful, mainstream religion folks. Believing that stuff can't help but play tricks with your mind!
I finished reading David Bodanis' History of E=MC^2
Author's website: David Bodanis : the official site
Here's a blogger who's read it (I think he's Dutch): alextreme's weblog
We're culling our collection of Bollywood flicks -- the grossly violent or uncaptioned stuff's gotta go! We'd never watch it anyway. However there are a few crime and war movies we're keeping, because they're well-made.
Speaking of crime movies: Little Caesar was on TCM. It made Edward G. Robinson a star in 1931. (Al Capone was still operating at the time.)
Mickey Spillane was PLAYING Mike Hammer in The Girl Hunters from 1963 on FMC. It wasn't bad, either -- a minor B&W Cinemascope film noir -- it wasn't great art by any means, but what do you expect from Mickey Spillane?

Media Watch: Many versions of El Manisero (The Peanut Vendor) by Moisés Simons, and an authoritative discussion about the early international success of this song, and Afro-Cuban music, on NPR's AfroPop Worldwide. My favorite version of the song was a syncopated masterpiece from 1937.
African Music, African Music Albums, African Musicians, African Bands, Reviews, Labels, Discographies, and more, from Afropop Worldwide, the experts on African music
I've been reading a little: The Rough Guide to Reggae --The Definitive Guide to Jamaican Music, from Ska Through Roots to Ragga by Steve Barrow; Peter Dalton; and Orla Duane
The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame was the subject of a story on NPR this morning: Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame -- Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
I saw an abyssimal dawg-assed S-F horror movie over the weekend from the mid-60's. It had Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper, plus borrowed footage from a Russian space flick. It was a space-vampire story, and REALLY SUCKED! I doubt that it's in the Hall of Fame. You might find it here: THE ASTOUNDING B MONSTER

Charity Alert: The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Weather: Rained like heck last night -- Robin's Egg Blue sky this morning.

Wildlife: The Yellowhead Blackbirds gathered around and chased a Magpie away from the hanging feeder in the Chokecherry tree. What a noise they made!
The small, yellow-spotted Mallard ducklings feeding on the ground below didn't seem to care though.

It was a long 4th of July weekend, I was sick, and here comes alotta stuff!

Wildlife: Two Horned Griebes were out on Middle Foy's Lake with their two new chicks riding on Mrs. Griebe's back, while Mr. Griebe was diving and feeding them all! Three Loons have taken residence in our lake since the 4th, making beautiful music. A Bald Eagle flies over the lake every morning. Two families of ducklings regularly visit our feeder. We sighted our first deer in months across the lake, near a neighbor's paddle-boat, and a fairly rare Goldfinch (for us) right outside the kitchen window.

Weather: Rain almost every night -- we're still officially in a drought, but the local moisture is helping keep the fire danger down for sure.

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

Media Watch: Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital is definitely on life-support. Some things kinda happened in Episode 11, but not even the return of the headless guy could enliven Episode 12. I'm hoping they edit-out all their worthless padding and do one or two wrap-up episodes so the show can die with dignity, for Lars Van Trier's sake, if not King's.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy took on beer and poker. Carson finally dressed someone up so they didn't look like they were going in for a job interview at Ringling Brothers Circus.
CSpan's Book TV doesn't go well with fevers and body aches -- talk about a blur of opinions. I couldn't read a damn thing either. I could finally lie still enough for Nicholas and Alexandra, thirty-odd years after it's making. Tom (Dr. Who) Baker was an oddly charming Rasputin, otherwise it was mediocre history, and an unconvincing try at humanizing a family of unfortunately doomed people who were probably clinically qualified as psychopathic isolates. "A pale, unromantic imitation of David Lean's Dr. Zhivago," has been said, and I agree.
The History Channel told the story of the wreck of the whaler Essex in 1820. I very much doubt that a Sperm Whale actually ATTACKED the ship, but it crashed into the ship twice, and stove in the side. (My guess is panic on the creature's part -- and bad sailorship on the part of the men.) I skipped the details of the horrific trip in longboats, where the few survivors only lived because of cannibalism.
We eventually got the book Moby Dick out of this terrible occurance after Herman Melville read a crewman's memoir.

Media Watch: That Bollywood crib of Strangers on A Train is called Soca -- The Thought That Kills "Soca to me! Soca to me! It ended up being a pretty lousy movie.
Speaking of "Sock It To Me!" I enjoy seeing Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on Trio Network. The earlier shows are MUCH funnier than the later ones -- they started "Jumping the Shark" by 1970. Jump The Shark - Chronicling the Moments of When TV Shows go Downhill
Lily Tomlin breathed a little life into it, but she's critical of her contributions, saying: "I think there was something in the water then."
Ain't nearly as bad as Pink Lady and Jeff from the late 70's, which Trio is running as part of FLOPS Month. Jump The Shark - Click on SEARCH - they have this show as one of the WORST!
Tomlin was a major stage and screen star when that waste of video was on the air, but she damn near sank her career doing a crappy flick with John Travolta, though. Luckily she was in Nine to Five and All of Me before the 80's were over.

Charity Alert: The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Weather: Thunderstorms and rain seemed to wake up EVERYBODY last night. More on the way!

Wildlife: Bears were sighted near the Old Steel Bridge public fishing spot on the Flathead River, about five miles to the east of us.

Wildlife: Four baby Killdeer birds were scurrying around on Buckboard Lane, near the bottom of our hill. There's a Killdeer nest two doors down from us, so we are hoping to see more of these tiny Plovers close at hand after the 4th of July.

Weather: These evening thunderstorms are getting noisier and drier. Drop some rain, if you're gonna make such a racket!

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Media Watch: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy featured an openly gay client for a change. As Carson Cressley once said about their straight clients (paraphrased): "They may do different things in the bedroom, but they're all just guys."
This episode was proof that straight folks do not have a monopoly on slobbiness.
Bollywood "Action" (i.e. violent) movies still have their share of singing and dancing. We were watching a rip-off of "Strangers on a Train." (Maybe intended as a tribute to Hitchcock's classic -- the acting is good at least.)
We've also seen a crib of "Body Heat," and a rather fun robbery of the "ET" idea.

Wildlife: A Great Blue Heron flew right over our heads as we paddled our canoe on Middle Foy's Lake. We counted at least four families of ducklings -- the only adult males we saw were a Redheaded Duck, and one Horned Greibe.

Charity Alert: C'mon, this is easy! The Rainforest Site: Help Save Our Rainforests!

Weather: Hot weather, for this place, with big thunderheads building up every day. There's less rain, but it's cooler when the clouds are overhead. Mugginess is an unfortunate trade-off. Dry thunderstorms mean forest fires -- keep raining, please!

Media Watch: A Book TV re-run yesterday evening on CSpan -- unusual. It was a panel of historians from January 2004 discussing, among several items, Sally Hemmings and Thomas Jefferson. Yep -- many of HER kids are HIS kids. From the 118th annual meeting of the American Historical Association, a panel discussion on biography and history writing. The panelists are Joseph Ellis, Annette Gordon-Reed, David Levering Lewis, John Lukacs, and Robert Remini. Moderating the panel is Lynn Hudson Parsons
Mr. Ellis called the (absent) Christopher Hitchens a son of a bitch. Ellis' opinion happens to be true, and it's too bad he apoligized at the end.
Boy, the right-wing facists sure hate Prof. Ellis for his historical conclusions!
Here's one mistake he shouldn't have made, though: (2001) Joseph Ellis,historian and Pulitzer Prize–winning writer, admitted in June that he led his students at Mount Holyoke College to believe that he had served as a paratrooper in Vietnam, when in reality his three years of service had been spent teaching history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He was also accused of embellishing his role in the civil rights and antiwar movements. He was subsequently suspended from Mount Holyoke for one year without pay and stripped of his endowed chair. Ellis won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for history for "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation." In a statement Ellis said, “I deeply regret having let stand and later confirming the assumption that I went to Vietnam. For this and any other distortions about my personal life, I want to apologize to my family, friends, colleagues, and students.”
This was a good BookTV: June 27, 2004 Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?," argues that Republicans have been able to gain the support of large numbers of poor and working class people in America by tapping into their sense of outrage over liberal cultural values. He says that while Republicans almost never act in the economic interest of the working class, they are able to effectively overhype issues like prayer in school and abortion to convince the working class to vote for them. Once in office, says Frank, Republicans accomplish little on the cultural front, but have great successes when it comes to economically aiding the rich. Includes Q&A.
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 was the box office champ over the weekend. That fact alone is significant. Fahrenheit 9/11 | In Theaters Now!
We also watched his 1997 film The Big One on IFC, and saw his interview on 60 Minutes. He has definitely matured beyond his old well-meaning stunts.

I recorded the Ouest for King Arthur on the History Channel -- a fair amount of "Dark Ages" history that was fun to see summarized: Quest for King Arthur
There's yet ANOTHER dawg-assed "Camelot" movie coming out, Clive Owen, the movie's leading man, diffidently introduced the "Quest" documentary, while Patrick Stewart boldly narrarated it. King Arthur -- The Official Movie Website
When in the heck is the movie industry going to tackle Mists of Avalon? Mists of Avalon
It would probably fail, like most novel adaptations, but maybe it's worth a try -- sometimes a good movie comes out of the attempt.
Rod Goodall of Footsbarn Theatre convinced the company to do another Arthurian romance around 1979. They'd previously tackled Tristam, the story of a Cornish knight who was part of the Arthurian legend cycle as well.
There's quite a tourist industry in Cornwall built around these old stories, and that's where we lived. After my time, Footbarn moved to Hallworthy, Cornwall, near Camelford, on the Camel River, where there are some real excavations dating from Dark Age Britain.
I guess I should mention the tourist traps of Launceston and Tintagel on the north coast of Cornwall, but we didn't have much to do with them. They have some impressive Norman castles that have served as romantic Arthurian backdrops for about a century!
Check out Footsbarn's website under PRODUCTIONS: Footsbarn - Welcome

Weather: More thunderstorms in the afternoon yesterday, but not as severe -- it just started to rain lightly as I was starting to videotape outside.

Wildlife: Hear no skunk, see no skunk, uh-oh we can still smell those stinkers at times.

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site : Feed an Animal in Need

Media Watch: I saw some of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction from 1994. Uma Thurman was very charismatic, and still is. John Travolta was actually good! I liked the weird 50's nightclub scene very much. Honorable mention: Rosanna Arquette.
The History Channel had an interesting show -- Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt.
From www.historychannel.com:
Famed as the "Valley of the Golden Mummies," Egypt's Bahariya Oasis is also home to one of the greatest concentrations of dinosaur remains on earth. The German scientist Ernst Stromer discovered the fossils in 1910, but his collection was largely destroyed during World War II. Remarkably, paleontologists did not return to Stromer's site for over half a century.
THE LOST DINOSAURS OF EGYPT is a gripping account of the Bahariya expeditions. Rare photos show Stromer's groundbreaking journey, while Josh Smith, the young leader of the 2000 expedition, talks about the rewards of working in "dinosaur heaven." And the cameras are rolling as Smith's team unearths the remains of Paralititan Stromeri, the second-largest dinosaur ever discovered. Video on sale HERE
The best part of the show was the way they told the story of Ernst Stromer -- he lost two sons in WWII, and his gigantic fossils were destroyed by Allied bombing over Munich in 1944. Luckily, one son came back from Soviet prison camps in 1950, and started a family. Prof. Stromer had some good glass negatives of his discoveries too. The artifacts may be gone, but the data remains, in a form that allows it to still be studied.

Weather: Thunderstorms built up around noon yesterday -- huge, high, billowing cells. The air was muggy and hot, and when the lightning started, a bolt hit the ball field right across the street! It terrified me when I heard that our receptionist was sent out in tht storm to roll up car windows. SCREW THAT! Let 'em get a wet ass -- people can be KILLED by lightning.

Wildlife: The male Yellowheads and Redwing Blackbirds fluff-up and posture at the box feeder. The females just fly up and eat. ("Get outta my way, boy!")

Charity Alert: It can't be easier than this -- The Hunger Site : Give Food for Free to Hungry People in the World

Keeping Up To Date: Here's an improvement to the Historical Society's website -- Buy this book! Preview "Looking Back" by Kathryn McKay
How about Final Friday? They have these good-weather "art walks" in Helena, Montana and Missoula, Montana. Why not here? Welcome to the Hockaday Museum of Art
Here's some streaming FUNKADELIC! SHOUTcast from Juan in Florida

Media Watch: Despite what I wrote yesterday, my wife and I went to the local Borders Books and bought first editions of Bill Clinton's My Life. Yeah, we'll get them signed by the author somehow.
Queer Eye For The Straight Guy had some droll moments. Their client dressed almost as funny as Carson normally does, and it was hilarious to see Cressley trying to tone somebody down. The client was also unrepentantly slobby -- he left a half-dozen empty beer bottles standing on his new coffee table for about ten hours, even though he knew that he was bringing somebody home in order to impress them with Thom Fillicia's redecorating work. (No, he never cleaned them up.)
There's supposed to be a Steven King's Kingdom Hospital episode tomorrow night -- uh huh, we'll see. Maybe Trio Network will finish it on their FLOPS series. For now, here's a somewhat funny website that's part of ABC's media hype: Kingdom Hospital of Maine

Before I Forget: Rudy Valee was in two movies on TCM last Monday -- Gold Diggers In Paris (1938) and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955) -- they're both C-grade pictures, set in Paris, with insipid plots of show business fraud. The 1955 movie was shot on location at times, but not the 1938 flick.
There were talented people involved in both films -- Busby Berkeley in Goldiggers, and Jayne Russell in Brunettes. Valee played an Ivy League con-man in both roles -- George Bush's role-model for sure!
TCM also played other Jayne Russell movies, including two of her best -- Macao and His Kind of Woman with her San Fernando Valley neighbor Robert Mitchum. The latter film is outright stolen by a very funny, upstaging, Vincent Price in the last half-hour. "B" Picture doesn't neccessarily mean BAD Picture!

Weather: It was cold and rainy for a couple of days, but yesterday and today are nice -- altough cooler than you'd expect on the summer solastice.

Wildlife: The cowbirds are still chasing the hawks and eagles around.

Charity Alert: The Breast Cancer Site : Fund Mammograms for Free

Media Watch: I'm not in the mood for Bill Clinton right now, so the news and talk shows are being clicked-through by very quickly. He was a better than average president though, but I'll visit this subject LATER -- much later.
Fleetwood Mac on PBS' Soundstage -- Mostly oldies, some originals, a second drummer (bad sign, Mick), and a mystery keyboardist (that's alright). Soundstage -- Fleetwood Mac -- PBS
Stevie Nicks once sang backup in a group called Fritz -- I even saw them in Salt Lake when they were opening for It's A Beautiful Day. My pal Michael G. Cavanaugh, the most popular local radio DJ at the time, introduced the band with a special mention of her beauty. "Thank you," she said with a look of surprise. Strangely enough, maybe it didn't happen all that often. Lindsey Buckingham was in Fritz too, but he had no discernable presence at the time I saw him -- kinda looked like a Q-Tip, all skinny with an unruly afro of black hair -- but the band had no discernable presence either, so he fit right in.
The point of this story is that Fritz was based in San Francisco, and Ms. Nicks performed on the same stages with Janis Joplin, and Joplin imitators like Lydia Pense of Cold Blood. This PBS performance displays a few of the unconscious mannerisms she likely aquired from Ms. Joplin -- to my eyes at least. Ms. Nicks has made some of the most evocative, original grooves in Pop music from her own soul, and none of her influences should EVER count against this fact.
Hey look at this! Mr. Buckingham has also done a solo Soundstage -- with Stevie Nicks as a guest!
Soundstage -- Lindsey Buckingham -- PBS

Weather: It's gonna be COLD, sez the radio! It was gray and raining this morning. BTW -- one week until the Summer Solastice is complete. Last year, after the rain ceased, the forest fires damn near smoked us out of here.

Wildlife: Mama Duck leads her ducklings under our hanging seed feeder almost every day now. The cats are afraid of big birds, so they don't bother them.

Charity Alert: The Child Health Site : Help a Child in Need Lead a Healthy, Active Life

Media Watch: The beautiful Star Cullars, and her band Enterprise are playing Park City, Utah tonight. Get up outta the valley and get down to some hardcore Funk in the mountains! I sent word to my friends in Salt Lake City, and hope someone I know is gonna go.
Speaking of Funk -- I'm enjoying a downloaded radio show from San Francisco, hosted by DJ Ricky Vincent. A couple of cyber-pals of mine (Ronald "Stozo" Edwards and Gina Hall) were at this broadcast when it was taped, about ten days ago. A couple of P-Funk family/friends did live performances too -- Zootzilla and Ronkat Spearman.
As far as TV goes, we were previewing some new Bollywood DVDs last night.
I'd been listening to the sad depressing news on NPR, and was ready for some cinema escapism.

At The College: When I was testing out the aforementioned CD in my office, a nice older lady from the watercolor class came in to make an appointment. Just as soon as she left, a rather lewd jam by Zootzilla started pouring out of my speakers, and I had to turn them down before someone else came in who might be offended -- like maybe my BOSS.
We're shuffling new equipment around, and sending some of it back -- Snap, Crackle, and Pop belong on a cereal box, not inside a new audio mixer!