Wildlife: I saw a big butterscotch-colored fox on Buckboard Lane, at the junction of Foy's Lake Road, hunting in the drainage ditch among the cattails.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

The Rain Forest Site -- spare a little oxygen?

Weather: Today is bright and clear. Yesterday we had mixed rain, snow, and sun, but in the local drainage of Ashley Creek, the moisture level is about 25% of normal.
Our homeowners association is taking the developers of a new neighboring housing project to court, otherwise the law says we'd have to wait for our wells go dry before initiating any action.

Media Watch: We saw that Bride and Prejudice was playing at the Strand Theater last night -- and ran out to see it before it left town. (There were only three teenaged girls in the audience besides us.)
It was filmed in Amritsar (India), Goa, London, and Los Angeles by Gurinder Chadha, the director of Bend It Like Beckham. Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai is a wonderful actress, and the rest of the cast is very good indeed. The dialogue was all in English, and everyone seemed to have fun with the song-and-dance numbers. The use of color was gorgeous!
One criticism -- the male protagonist (played by Martin Henderson) wasn't particularly appealing. His basic character was never clearly drawn, and his actions tended to be awfully reprehensible. Whatever goodness he possessed was described rather than shown. The screenplay may have been adapted from Jane Austen, but it was crafted like a Harlequin Romance -- par for the course in Bollywood, but Ms. Chadha is capable of better than that.
The music was alright, with singer/dancer Ashanti performing most of the lead vocals and doing a brief number -- Bollywood stylings are a current Pop fad, after all. The nice lady at 'The Strand' gave us a copy of the movie poster too!
Informative Review Page
The Movie's Official Flash Site (rubbish)

In The Community: The opening reception for our annual FVCC Photography Exhibit at the Hockaday Museum was low-key, but fun. (I went over and shot some event photos after the movie.)
The Hockaday Museum of Art
The Honors Symposium last Wednesday was entitled The Dollars and (Non) Sense of Defense Spending and was presented by Stanford University graduate Dr. Karen Anderson, Political Science Professor at the University of Montana in Missoula.
Eisenhour's designated "Military Industrial Congressional Complex" is corrupted in the vast sums of money needed for re-election, furnished by the greedy business people who bid for the lucrative contracts supplying the military. When the Pentagon asks for so much, Congress gives them even more -- despite the fact that many of those additional things are un-needed, un-wanted, and contrary to national security needs.
Retired General VanSickle, an elderly gentleman, wanted the rest of the audience to know how the Pentagon procurement proccess worked from HIS point of view, and got to tell us. His information made Dr. Anderson's points even more clear, and scarier.
Next Week -- Karen's husband, Christopher Muste (a Washington Post writer) will speak on Public Opinion and the Media: Looking Glasses or Fun-house Mirrors?
On A Lighter Note: RAVES about FVCT's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull

"...I'm speechless..."
Joel Siegel, The Today Show

"...hard hitting..."
Steven Seagal, star of Under Siege

"...soaring..."
Jonathan Livingston Seagull

"...made my day..."
Don Siegel, Director of Dirty Harry

"...a wake-up call..."
Robert Siegel, National Public Radio host

"...worth the gamble..."
Benny (Bugsy) Siegel, founder of The Flamingo

"...super..."
Siegel and Shuster, comic strip creators

"...plays like a guitar..."
Corky Siegel, blues musician

"...a slam dunk..."
Larry Bird

"...legendary..."
Brigham Young

Wildlife: A literal cloud of shining, dark blue swallows were gobbling insects over the lake yesterday afternoon between alternating squalls and sunlight.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Charity Alert: The Animal Rescue Site

In The Community: An adaptation of Anton Chekov's The Seagull , set in pre-WWI Montana instead of pre-WWI Russia, is playing at my college. I had NOTHING to do with it, except for a TV interview with David Ackroyd, the director, but I'm making lotsa Mormon Cricket/Seagull jokes!
The penultimate Honors Symposium for 2005 is this Wednesday -- Dr. Karen Adams, political science professor from the U of M in Missoula on The Dollars and Non-sense of Defense Spending.

Media Watch: I'm reading The Future As History from 1960 -- pretty optimistic in it's opening statements, but accurate in it's observation that actual events can be depressingly surprising, when people expect something else.
Most of the TV shows I saw this weekend were concerned with home repair and design. That %$#@! master bathroom of mine is still %$#@!ed up! My attempts to fix it just made things worse, too. I wish the television could do it for me.

Wildlife: A big Bald Eagle soared over Middle Foy's Lake yesterday morning. OK -- you're in the blog, birdie, if that's what you wanted.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Weather: A millimeter of snow all over my neighborhood this morning, and a frozen birdbath -- one clear and sunny Friday was unfolding everywhere else I could see.

Charity Alert: Click here and help somebody: The Hunger Site

In The Community: Well, it looks like I'm still working for the Hockaday Museum of Art. Since I never really quit, I'll call it a scaling-back of my duties -- more grunt-and-groan, plus some digital photography. Hockaday Museum's Web Site
Peter Held from A.S.U. in Tempe, Arizona did a beautiful illustrated lecture about David Shaner, the man and the artist. Some people travelled hundreds of miles to hear it, and see Shaner's exhibit before it is removed later this month. (HINT!)
Right now, I'm off to deliver a mini-lecture about Footsbarn Theatre, India, and Indian Culture (including Bollywood movies).

Media Watch: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in Texas reinforced some stereotypes with a somewhat recalcitrant client who was a real cowboy -- uhh -- horse trainer.
I started reading Galactic Derelict by the late Andre Norton, who died not long ago at the age of 92. She had class -- a solid writer in an often-shallow genre. Did she ever break new ground? No, but she grew a damn good garden without many weeds.
Ursula K.LeGuin wrote this on her website:

In Memoriam: Andre Norton

My first published novel was an Ace Paperback Double — the kind where you read the book to the middle of the book and then it stopped, The End, and you turned it over, and there was a whole other novel starting upside down on the other side. It may sound ridiculous, but for fifty cents it was a bargain. Fifty cents was pretty much what the author got paid, also.
Anyhow, it was my first published novel, and I was proud of it, but nowhere near as proud as when I got a letter about it from Andre Norton. The letter is in my files at the U. of Oregon now and I don’t remember the words, only that she praised the book discerningly, and encouraged me to write more. As she was, in the mid 1960’s, a Major Person in the field of imaginative literature, it seemed miraculous to me that she had taken the time from her own work to write a newcomer at all — let alone telling them, hey, it’s good, write more!

I treasure the memory of that letter, and the kind, shy, brilliant, and generous woman who wrote it. It was completely characteristic of her. — Ursula K. Le Guin

Wildlife: Turtles are starting to share the log-in-the-lake along with the Mallards. These cold-blooded reptiles are more reliable signs of Spring than Robins.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Charity Alert: Child Health Site -- DO something, even if it's just clicking a mouse!

Weather: A little moisture every day, and snow sticking on the foothills just over my head.

Media Watch: I'm reading a reprint of Kingsly Amis' New Maps of Hell from 1960. It is an early critical survey of Science Fiction/Fantasy by a competent writer from outside the field. My friend Brian W. Aldiss wrote the more comprehensive Million Year Spree a decade and a half later, and revised it as Billion Year Spree in the 80's.

In The Community: Flathead Valley Community College's Honors Symposium presented Dr. John Wilkerson from the University of Washington's Political Science Department last night. He spoke on The Politics of Health Care in America. It wasn't the best lecture in the series, but it made the point that the USA spends more for HEALTHCARE than any other country in the world without having the best HEALTH in return for all that money.
He didn't say so, but I will -- The Healthcare Industry is skimming our inflated bills like a crooked casino, and paying off our politicians to keep things this way.

Next Big Thang: Peter Held's lecture on David Shaner at the Hockaday Museum of Art Thursday night at 5:30. Exhibits at the Hockaday Museum

Wildlife: Big male Whitetail deer welcomed me home Wednesday night -- had to run, though.



Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Charity Alert: The Literacy Site and some other fine projects!

Weather: Rain last night -- GOOD. Sprayed our trees for destructive insectoids yesterday -- UGH.

In the Community: The Honors Symposium lecture about Social Security with Harry Zeeve from the Concord Coalition was more of an extended Q & A session than a talk, but it was a very good evening anyway. Fiscal conservatism is a virtue in my eyes -- always has been, and I'm glad that someone was arguing for financial sensibility on the part of a National Government which currently shows no inclination to do anything of the sort.
We are living in an irrational age, unfortunately, where columns of black-and-white figures are ignored in favor of blood-red hysteria which is more easily sold through the ravenous mass media.
By the way, Harry is a great guy -- loves guitar music!
Next lecture: The Politics of Health Care in America by Dr. John Wilkerson, from the Political Science Department at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Media Watch: When does the next round of this Jeopardy championship start?
A nice program called Monster Hoax on the A&E Network -- an animatronic-powered plastic creature named "Lucy" swimming in Loch Ness. It was a high-spirited practical joke by a bunch of grown men who had more time and money than was safe for them. Lucy sank, along with a miniature sub, during testing, and also capsized in Loch Ness itself -- sending one of her diver-operators to the hospital.
Mbube on PBS -- a documentary about the legacy of Solomon Linda. He was a South African singer who wrote a great group-vocal tune in 1939 called "Mbube" that Pete Seegar transliterated as "Wimoweh" around 1949. In 1961 a group of young American musicians called The Tokens sang "Wimoweh" with some English lyrics added to make a song called "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which became an international number-one hit.
Like most black people in South Africa, Solomon Linda led a hard life, and died with no material wealth in 1962. The expession "died in poverty" is often used about him, but his daughter pointed out in the film that he was neither "a hungry man" nor a "hobo." He worked all day and sang all night to support his family, among other very poor Black South Africans, and his people loved him.
The filmmakers made this movie as a way of pleading for justice towards Solomon's family -- his tune has made millions of dollars, and his estate deserves a share.
Pete Seegar's publisher, and Solomon Linda's record company are sending profits where they belong now, but Dan Weiss, the lyricist of "Lion" hasn't given up a dime -- shame on him, and a music industry which allows situations like this.
The Disney Corporation's assets are tied up in South Africa because of their use of that 'stolen song' in "The Lion King." Maybe it'll help pry a fair settlement out of the powers-that-be eventually.

Visit: A Tale of Two Movies

Wildlife: The ducks are paired-up and beginning to nest by Middle Foy's Lake. The Canadian Geese are doing the same by Firehouse Pond.

Weather: I'm not complaining about a mild sunny April day, but we still need more rain.

Charity Alert: Click to help: The Animal Rescue Site (and five others)

Media Watch: A biography of America's Sweetheart: Mary Pickford on PBS' American Experience. How did Kenneth Anger describe it? "...the evil star system"
From PBS.com: Legacy of a Superstar
Pickford was the world's first international superstar. Her performances could be seen and admired anywhere, thanks to a new, portable, mechanically reproduceable art form. Pickford was the first to experience the glamour and excitement of enormous and extravagant fame -- and the first to pay the price for its loss. In 1915, statisticians calculated that she was seen globally by 12 million people every day. At the height of her success, she was the richest woman in America -- and she enjoyed a long career in front of the camera. By the late 1930s, her star had waned. Still, Pickford's contributions to the development of film -- the major artistic invention of the twentieth century -- make her one of the most important cultural figures in American history.
Multi-Media PBS Website about Mary Pickford and early movies

In the Community: Honors Symposium tonight -- Harry Zeeve from "The Concord Coalition," located in Arlington, Virginia, speaking on: Social Security and the Federal Budget.
From http://www.concordcoalition.org ...Unfortunately, the President’s only concrete proposal — a debt-financed personal accounts “carve out” — would do nothing to solve the problem... Indeed,it might even make the problem worse.
Senator Conrad Burns had a pretty restive crowd last Saturday morning for his "listening session" on Social Security. To his credit, he was able to keep everyone who spoke on-topic, which wasn't that easy, considering the anger of some of the participants. Another thing I was impressed with was his instructions to his staff afterward to follow-up on certain issues brought to his attention in the meeting.
There were only three jackasses out of over two dozen speakers, which was remarkable.
Members of the audience made some noise if they were offended, or clapped in agreement sometimes, but they were generally polite.
NOBODY spoke in favor of Bush's "privitazation" of Social Security, and several spoke against it.
More than once Sen. Burns promised that he would "vote the way his constituents wanted," and even declared, "(President) Bush doesn't vote for me."
However -- Karl Rove had been in Helena with Burns the day before. The subject never came up, but the Bush Adminastration is infamous for retaliation against those who stray from their plans, and Burns depends on GOP money to be re-elected.
Honors Symposium Reviews:
Bob Brown, a long-time state legislator gave the only lecture held at FVCC. All but a dozen went to the Kalispell Mall, including Brown, and had to be informed of their mistake there before finding the right place.
His topic was The Role of Public Education in a Free Society, and he quoted Benjamin Rush, Thomas Jefferson, Noah Webster, and Horace Mann. Democracy doesn't work at all without literacy and education. (It just barely works now in our country, but Brown didn't get into that.)
Brown used his limited experience in the dangerous, beleagured state of Angola as an example of how lack of basic education and common language allows no foundations for modern institutions, like free elections, in some parts of the world. His point may have been a bit too anecdotal, but his capsule description of that sad ex-colony's history was more accurate than most I have heard.
The Q&A session was mostly about how the Montana State Land Board works. Even though it was off-topic, its very worthwhile to know these things.
Dr. Tom Powers from the Economics Dept. of the U of M in Missoula was terrific.
I wish ALL presenters were prepared, organized, brought facts to support their assertions, and pointed out existing exceptions and "weaknesses" of their arguements themselves. The best thing he brought was a sense of humor, about himself, and everything he said.
Dr. Powers' topic was: What Does Landscape Protection Cost Us? He showed that qualities such as clean air, water, natural beauty, and mild weather were significant factors in attracting skilled and wealthier people to given areas. They weren't sufficient in themselves for establishing thriving local economies, but they significantly helped. He also had the figures to demonstrate that heavily extraction-related, "boom and bust" localities tended to stay busted and depopulated once they'd gutted their natural resources.