latethink's Open Salon Blog

A Song for all the Sellouts

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:06:18 -0400

One thing that most powerful people in public life--politicians both democrats and republicans, lobbyists, presidents, presidential candidates, lunatic former governors on private buses--have in common is how well groomed, well dressed, smooth, silky and shiny they are. All have such lovely teeth, pretty jewelry, and are all so spiritual, religious and kind. This song was written by John Lennon (in 1971-how did he foresee) and contains these very appropriate lines:

You can shine your shoes and wear a suit
You can comb your hair to look quite cute
You can hide your face behind a smile
One thing you can't hide
Is when you're crippled inside

You can wear a mask and paint your face
You can call yourself the human race
You can wear a collar and a tie
One thing you can't hide
Is when you're crippled inside

Well you know that a cat has nine lives
nine lives to itself
you only got one
And a dog's life ain't fun
Mamma take a look outside

You can go to church and sing a hymn
You can judge me by the color of my skin
You can live a lie until you die
One thing you can't hide
Is when you're crippled inside

It goes on like that and you can find it anywhere and hear it anywhere on the web if you want, but I am just so disgusted. Nancy Pelosi emailed me this morning asking me for money for some bullshit pie in the sky that I didn't even bother to read about. If I can make my life work with the pittance I make at my job--and I can--how is it these people who are so educated and so together see more money in a month than I will in a lifetime and still fail so miserably at solving the simplest problems, all while selling out to huge destructive corporations and then get the nerve to ask working people like me for money!?

Then when you have a progressive fighter like Anthony Weiner, he turns out to be completely nuts. I'm sorry, he's an idiot. Now for something that always makes my day. I miss you John, but I guess we have this decade's you--Jamie Oliver, with the radical idea of healthy food in America.

I always preferred the fat John Lennon.

This Just in From the BBC on NPR

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:06:45 -0400

To repeat from my faulty memory what I think I just heard a BBC commentator say on NPR today:

Let's be honest, Michelle Bachman has a reputation of being a bit nutty and saying daft things, and it was noticeable last night that she didn't say anything daft.

I love the English, so understated. How could you NOT notice when Michelle Bachman didn't say anything daft?

Quick Note

Wed, 6 Apr 2011 19:04:09 -0400

I was gone at first because my 6-month-old Hewlitt-Packard motherboard went about a month ago and I bought a new rebuilt computer and am using that, and it works fine. HP will fix my old one but it would have taken about 2 weeks during which time I would have lost my job, so for 200.00 this one is doing fine. I bought it from the place that fixes my computer, missed 5 days of work and spent the rest of the time playing catch-up, which I did quite nicely.

Then about 2 weeks after that, my son Fayard went in for back surgery to have Harrington rods placed to straighten his scoliotic spine, and that has been rough, but he has been home for 2 weeks now and the surgery was 3 weeks ago, so his bed is in the living room, we are using a hoyer lift which was impossible at first especially with only one person using it--me, but now is much more manageable. If we do not have a government shutdown Medicaid might be sending home health aides out to help.

My ex, the postman, has insurance that covers 2 hours of home nursing a day but after many conversations with BCBS preferred nursing providers, I find out that what I am asking for is not nursing care. It's not medical. It's clerical, mechanical, comical, anything but medical, so. Anyway, people have been nice including Fayard's father, the family and everyone else. Shriner's Hospital is a beautiful cheerful place but taking the bus there took forever because it's a huge complex up there at OHSU. Anyway, I have missed it here, but just do not know when I'll be able to come back. I miss everyone very much, and even with all the support in the real world, it's still kind of lonely being a caregiver.

sometimes I do not want to share stuff about it either. I heard Truman Capote once say (on a PBS special of course) that writers didn't suffer more than the average person, they just got used to feeling it, exploring it and putting it out for others to share, and that was what made a good writer. Honestly I cannot do that, maybe some day. But I surely miss the people on OS who can.

I'm watching Mildred Pierce, and it's pretty good. I love the old-timey language and feel of it, but I cannot believe I'm saying that I think Kate Winslet is a little flat in it. Melissa Leo and Mare Winingham are great, but I miss Jack Carson as the old Wally. Guy Pearce is pretty wonderful too.

coco and igor

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:02:09 -0500

This weekend I watched a very seriously interesting movie, and it was just so enjoyable. The beginning is more promising than the movie turns out to be, but I love this era, and just saw a special on PBS about the French avante-garde, so when this movie started with the Rite of Spring, and the dark photography, moodiness, gorgeous period costumes and scenery, I was just hooked. I don't know ballet, have never been to one in my life, am not familiar with Igor Stravinsky other than having seen Fantasia, but I'm now totally intrigued.

Actually watching a movie about two intense adults who take their art very seriously, but who are both definitely very grown up was refreshing in this era of bleak romances (I love you so much I'll break you out of jail) or stupid rom-coms about people who never grow up but opt to pretend to be adorable for the rest of their lives. This movie, Coco and Igor (guess who's coming to dinner) is about the affair between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, and their intensity sometimes borders on the comic with both of them peering intently into the camera at different times. Anyway, the below video is from Rite of Spring, which I didn't know I loved, but now I do.

This is better, wilder.

Funnier Than Portlandia

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:01:42 -0500

Photos from flickr.

IFC has a new show called Portlandia, and I have been discussing it with all of my out-of-state relatives, who almost all have lived here in Portland for a year or more at a time, my 2 sisters and my aunt. I've seen it, and it's pretty funny. The first skit with Fred Armiston and Carrie Brownstein when they are at a restaurant ordering chicken is my favorite I think. It goes a little too far after all. However, at the beginning they get the conversational tone just perfect. The quiet monotone--nothing ruffles me--kind of thing. But those type of people are soft targets, and easy to parody. Here are some funnier things that I've seen happen or have had happen to me in my 25 years in Portland.

1. A man playing violin in the park grabbed his violin case and took off running Groucho Marx style after my aunt tried to put money in his violin case.

2. A man waiting at the bus stop had a plastic Safeway bag on top of his head and tied under his chin stuffed with other white bags, giving his head a dinosaur-like appearance. His manner of dress and demeanor were that of an otherwise together individual.

3. The night before the last Harry Potter book came out, Powell's Books downtown had a huge party with firedancers, refreshments, and people with movie-quality costumes. My son and I went, and saw that some people had brought sleeping bags to spend the night in order to buy the book the moment the store opened. While the party went on, a number of homeless with their grocery carts and sleeping bags waited for the party to end. One homeless woman bedded down on a park bench before the festivities were over. Some people drove by and yelled out of their car: "Yaaaaay! LORD OF THE RINGS!" Maybe you had to be there.

4. I was waiting for the bus once where the 85 and 88 buses go by. There was a blind woman ahead of me and another man waiting as well. The 85 came by, which I was waiting for, opened its doors and the blind woman said, "I'm waiting for the 88." The bus closed its doors and drove away. I looked at the man in disbelief and said "what happened!?" He said "she didn't want the 85 so he left." I said, "I can't believe that." His eyes flashed angrily as he said, "Well, it HAPPENED!" Then he turned on his heel and strode away.

5. I've gotten lots of free mochas because people order them and then don't claim them. In some of the smaller coffee shops, they then say, "anybody want this coffee?" They do that if they make a mistake too.

6. When I first moved here, my first job was with a place called Doctor's Transcription Service, now out of business. I worked with an older woman, Vera, who had long gray hair and was very, very hippyish, for lack of a better word. One day (in 1987, I had no idea back then) I brought in some leftover veal that my mother-in-law had ordered at a restaurant the night before but didn't want. I told this woman what I had for lunch and she gave me a long detailed description of how veal is made and I've never eaten veal again. She never raised her voice, but she got her point across. Later, after I had left DTS, this same woman sued the company because other coworkers complained that she smelled of cat spray (which she did).

7. When I was married and my children were young, my husband and I had a date night over on Hawthorne Street which is a trendy place, but used to be much more offbeat than it is now. Anyway, our marriage stunk from the get-go, and we almost never spoke. So we went to the movies at the Baghdad Theater, then were going to get a beer. There are a lot of cute shops there and I wanted to window shop, but he was in a hurry. So as I looked into the shop windows and he hurried on ahead, this woman with long gray hair and a long khaki skirt came up to me and said "Do you know him?" gesturing in the direction of my husband. "Yes," I said. "Be nice to him. HE'S HUNGRY," she said. I told her I would, and hurried to catch up to my husband. Jeez, was I ever that young?

8. An absolute Greek God of a young man with curly black hair and big blue eyes was sitting outside of the Hawthorne Fred Meyer in a jacket and his underpants with a sign that read: "Will Work for Pants." His legs were beautifully muscled and hairy. I gave him money, telling him I hoped he got some pants, but I was lying.

9. Quick one: While walking through my old SE Portland neighborhood, a woman ran out her front door and up to me with some urgency. She put a photo in front of my face and said: "Have you seen this cat?" The cat situation in Portland is out of control. My answer: "I may have."

There are other things like that, but I guess you had to be there.

I haven't seen the Portlandia video with Kyle MacLachlan, but am looking forward to it. Portland has a very dark side to it too, but that would be a different show, I'm sure.

This guy was mayor when I first moved here. Seriously.