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.)