Daily Entries for the week of Sunday, November 24 through
Saturday, November 30
This is our 603rd post.
This, the entry for Saturday, November 30
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
Dom at Marginal Way, Ogunquit, Maine, Thanksgiving, 2019
The colors of the turbulent ocean and sky, so lovely: grey, green, blue, silver, white, steel.
See Commentary for details
______________________________________________________________________________
2.0 Commentary
The dichotomy.
Setting out on the trip to be alone.
Within a busy, celebratory day unfolding all around us.
To be alone.
And yet to be missed.
Enough for someone to pick up the phone or text a ‘happy day, to you.’
An intrusion on the loneness.
And yet replaces sadness that might otherwise seep into our private moment.
Rather the intrusion.
And the warmth left after the acknowledgement.
Expecting a quiet day.
Light traffic for my near two-hour drive to Kennebunk from Boston.
Not so.
Traffic moderate: busy enough to prevent sailing off into the land of deep thought.
Or even introspection.
Even though I drive slowly, middle lane, not passing anyone.
My avoidance of little use.
Plenty of cars nonchalantly cutting in front, too close for comfort.
Forcing an adjustment.
Reality.
All the way to Maine.
Once off the highway, however, the Ogunquit exit, traffic, or lack thereof, told me it was a holiday.
Parking at the Marginal Way was easy, as expected.
A windy day, but near forty, so not hard to take.
Dressed as I was for a walk in Siberia.
The colors of the turbulent ocean and sky, so lovely: grey, green, blue, silver, white, steel.
And the slurpy sounds of the suicides smashing again and again against the rocks,
breaking up their breathtaking muscularity into harmless foam, so many cans of shaving cream smothering the rocks and the waters around them.
And bobbing nearby, flocks of water birds, Lesser Scaup, Greater Scaup, Ruddy ducks-who can tell without binoculars and a guidebook?-
come down from the north to winter in these warm-to-them waters,
Waiting for their dinners to be pushed and pulled and disoriented,
the little fish easy prey.
Not many people walking the Way,
but passing at such close quarters,
impossible not to say, “Good Afternoon!” “Happy Thanksgiving!” feeling too intimate.
Most return the greeting, using the words I’ve just prompted.
Back on Route One,
in season, often stop and go, deserted at 2.15pm on Thanksgiving afternoon.
Enjoying the drive through Americana: Dunkin’ Donuts, Mama Jo’s Diner, Jiffy Car Wash, Drop and Leave Laundry (and dry cleaning) Sam’s Steakhouse, Closed Thanksgiving,
Will reopen Wednesday, December 4.
Check the GPS: Your right turn in .6miles, TOA: 2.32pm.
My reservation: 3.00pm.
I pass the entry to the White Barn Inn to drive through a small commercial district of Kennebunk,
Driving too slowly for a local who let’s me know with a so-out-of-place horn-blast.
The district attractively predictable for a seashore center: café, closed, antiques, closed, restaurants, mostly closed, not an Italian,
and most definitely not the White Barn Inn,
nearly-filled, even at this shoulder time.
I only wait five minutes before I’m seated.
I’ve been here before and appreciate the ‘barny’ wood-feel of the dining room.
The prix fixe menu is $95.00.
I opt to pay a $20.00 boost to get the taster’s turkey plate with eight vegetables, a piece of foie gras, and turkey remoulade.
The lobster bisque, turkey plate, and apple souffle were well-done, as expected.
In between bites, while I enjoyed a glass of vintage Veuve Cliquot, excellent, and a glass of Oregon Pinot Noir, I read one of the great books of my modern life, so poetic, it’s Pulitzer for fiction seems inappropriate: The Overstory.
Coming home, traffic again disappointingly moderate,
I basked in the glow of a touch of alcohol and
the residue of having heard from all of my family and several close friends.
At home, I continued my holiday by watching Scorsese’s The Irishman,
a tour de force from a director and cast that have given us many great movies.
Afterwards, I spent an hour organizing the various writings I have adopted as part of my daily routine.
My aim is to give myself breathing room so that I am enjoying the creativity.
I went to bed.
Slept well.
Woke.
And sat down to write this piece.
Which simply flowed.
Quite enjoyable.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture
1921 Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar
File:Pilgrim tercentenary half dollar commemorative obverse.jpg
File:Pilgrim tercentenary half dollar commemorative reverse.jpg
Coin: Cyrus Dailin Image: Bobby131313
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2.0 Commentary
So, it’s Wednesday afternoon and tomorrow’s the grand day.
The day for families to get together.
But I will be alone.
Not lonely, though.
Life up to this moment has been a little too hot to maintain.
I’m in need for a respite.
This afternoon, tomorrow, and Friday morning are it.
No social intercourse.
Alone.
As in an existential moment.
An existentialautotrip.
So Thursday I will head out to Kennebunkport, Maine, USA.
A two hour drive out and another back.
And I will let my mind wander, taking notes where appropriate.
In between, a two mile walk along the Marginal Way, and back.
After the walk, a terrific meal at the White Barn Inn.
I expect.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3.0 Table of Contents and Contact Information
For entries posted earlier this week, keep scrolling.
1.0 Lead Picture with single line comment
2.0 Commentary
3.0 Table of Contents and Contact Information
4.0 Chuckles
5.0 Mail
6.0 Dinner/Food
7.0 Podcast
8.0 Video
9.0 Poetry
10.0 Movie Reviews
11.0 Thumbnails
12.0 Recipes
13.0 Tweet w Picture
20.0 Acknowledgements
21.0 Good Morning
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4.0 Chuckles
Do you think God gets stoned? I think so…Look at the platypus.
Robin Williams
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5.0
Mail
We love getting mail: domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Kali L:
Dom,
I cherish this post.
Colleen- thank you for your generous offerings in regards to my words. It is such a gift to me.
Sally,
I love that you visited with her and you remembered him in the way that only you two could- that's so special and what a gift! I've often thought joy to be a composition of sorrow and happiness and I actually prefer it. I feel that happiness creates a tendency for us to strive toward a future place instead of being present. Being present allows us to have presence. When gratitude is at our center miracles occur frequently throughout the day. I am so grateful.
Thank you to Colleen, to Sally, and to Dom
All my love,
Kali
Web Meister responds: The love, so openly expressed, is palpable. What a lovely way to start the holiday season.
6.0 Dinner/Food
With a focus on Thanksgiving dinner, many of us tend to reduce food preparation for the several meals preceding the holiday.
For me, I stayed simple: Broiled/Seared Salmon [on sale,] one dinner out, and a traditional Italian Gravy [Meatballs and Spaghetti] to mark a meal shared with my cousins with half reserved for my daughter’s arrival for the holiday weekend.
Happy holiday weekend.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________11.0 Thumbnails
The Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar or Pilgrim half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1920 and 1921 to mark the 300th anniversary (tercentenary) of the arrival of the Pilgrims in North America.
It was designed by Cyrus E. Dallin.
Sculptor James Earle Fraser criticized some aspects of the design, but the Treasury approved it anyway.
Massachusetts Congressman Joseph Walsh was involved in joint federal and state efforts to mark the anniversary.
He saw a reference to a proposed Maine Centennial half dollar and realized that a coin could be issued for the Pilgrim anniversary in support of the observances at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The bill moved quickly through the legislative process and became the Act of May 12, 1920.
After a promising start, sales tailed off, and tens of thousands of coins from each year were returned to the Philadelphia Mint for melting.
Numismatist Q. David Bowers has cited the fact that the coins were struck in the second year as the start of a trend to force collectors to buy more than one piece in order to have a complete set.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
This is our 601st entry,
This, the entry for Thursday, November 28
1.0 Lead Picture
This picture is an oil-on-canvas portrait of Félix Fénéon in the Neo-Impressionist style by French painter Paul Signac, dated 1890.
2.0 Commentary
I must admit to proceeding to think about the blog with a strong touch of trepidation.
I am grateful to have the Microsoft team so close by.
The trepidation stems from the number and types of social media uploads I am juggling, trying to balance. balance.
While I believe each of the pieces is under control, they lack a sensible orchestration of the various parts.
This problem has always was been there but has surfaced now because other problems, more pressing at the time, took precedence. Those have been resolved.
Now comes the balance.
Happy Thanksgiving.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4.0 Chuckle
“If these pictures have anything important to say to future generations, it's this... I was here! I existed! I was young, I was happy, and someone cared enough about me in this world... to take my picture.”
― Robin Williams
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5.0 Mail
We love getting mail
This from Colleen G:
Hi Dom,
I have to say this--sometimes when you read you come across glimmering bits like a treasure chest filled and you can't take it all with you and so it is with words. You can only shove so many in your pockets. When I read down your blog and found Kali's response to a note I saw this sparkling and I had to pick it up and shove it in my pocket. It's a gem: "they are certainly more than their end...we all are."
That's good!
Cheers,
Colleen:)
Web Meister responds: Who can object to that?
And this from Richard C:
That hash looks delicious!
I'm going to try the recipe out.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Rich Case
Meat Manager
Roche Bros.
Downtown Crossing - 121
617-456-5111
rcase@rochebros.com
Web Meister responds: Contact usagain when you tried it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
November 27
Roman milestone XXIX on Via Romana XVIII – the road linking the Iberian cities of Bracara Augusta and Asturica Augusta
Júlio Reis - Own work
See Commentary immediately below for more thoughts on milestones.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________2.0 Commentary
Milestones were originally stone obelisks – made from granite, marble, or whatever local stone was available – and later concrete posts.
They were widely used by Roman Empire road builders and were an important part of any Roman road network: the distance travelled per day was only a few miles in some cases.
Today we have a milestone of our own.
Six hundred organically nursed posts that grew from simple, technology challenged offerings to a blog with images, a podcast, and a video.
Our podcast is a chapter by chapter reading of Dom Capossela’s Conflicted, which tells the contemporary Boston-based story of a unique bonding between Dee Mirabile, a badass militant-mystic who has been in the presence of God, and the trio of her inseparable girlfriends as they take on Satan and his plan to lead mankind into the End of Days.
Conflicted weaves romance, a girlfriend’s terminal illness, girl-bonding, life after death, high school, mysticism, heroin-addiction, evil, fantasy, and spirituality, transcending any single genre.
Our video offerings are now focusing on a series called the “Hey, my friends” videos. They will be introduced by a chuckle followed by a six to ten minute discussion of one topic or another.
Here is a list of links to our various productions.
dom capossela contact information:
(Email) domcapossela@hotmail.com
(Blog) http://www.existentialautotrip.com/
(Podcast: “Conflicted”) https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331
(“Hello, my friends…” video series) https://youtu.be/0jZyXGblJl0
Twitter: domcapossela1
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3.0 Table of Contents and Contact Information
Today’s entries in bold.
For entries posted earlier this week, keep scrolling.
1.0 Lead Picture with single line comment
2.0 Commentary
3.0 Table of Contents and Contact Information
4.0 Chuckles
5.0 Mail
6.0 Dinner/Food
7.0 Podcast
8.0 Video
9.0 Poetry
10.0 Movie Reviews
11.0 Thumbnails
12.0 Recipes
13.0 Tweets
20.0 Acknowledgements
21.0 Good Morning
4.0 Chuckles
Cricket is baseball on valium.
Robin Williams
_____________________________________________________________________________________________5.0 Mail
We love getting mail
This from Colleen G:
Hi Dom,
I have to say this--sometimes when you read you come across glimmering bits like a treasure chest filled and you can't take it all with you and so it is with words. You can only shove so many in your pockets. When I read down your blog and found Kali's response to a note I saw this sparkling and I had to pick it up and shove it in my pocket. It's a gem: "they are certainly more than their end...we all are."
That's good! Cheers,
Colleen:)
Webmeister Responds: Our readers add immeasurably to the blog, including Kali and Colleen.
And this from Sally C:
To Kali,
You'll be pleased to know that I visited with my deceased friend's ex-wife yesterday, on my way home from Pennsylvania, and we did exactly what you recommend: We talked about him, we looked at pictures, we laughed at the memories of funny things he did, and celebrated the blessing he was on our lives. We will not tiptoe around his memory, nor ever forget how he enriched our lives. We have joy - not always or necessarily happiness, but joy. These two concepts can be the same thing, like intersecting sets (remember those from math class?), but are not equal, interchangeable, or synonymous.
You are absolutely right, that by hiding ourselves from others, we hide from ourselves, to our detriment.
People exploring these things might like to check out Michelle Palladini's blog about mindfulness. She posts on Mondays. Today's is particularly apt here. https://michellepalladini.com/
As always, thank you, Kali and Dom!
Sally
Web Meister responds: Love the love.
And this from Dr. Jim Pasto:
Dom,
Thanks for highlighting Spirited Away. It is one of my overall favorite films. Every time I watch I feel like it becomes alive inside of me. I think that is the meaning of the title. It spirits the audience away with it.
Jim
Web Meister responds: Watched it many times w daughter Kat. She loved it from a very early age.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
9.0 Poetry
A Year Later
Kali L
No matter how far away you are from the ruptured vine
it still lives inside of me.
Have you ever found a dead mouse floating in a pool?
Hot tears soak my face swollen. I have spent day after day of this
year taking a net and pulling the dead mouse from the pool.
The shadows of the sun put the shiver in my spine.
I am not warm and I am not cold.
I am everything all at once.
I cradle my face in front of a mirror. I say, I am beautiful, my love.
I run my fingers through my hair. I say, I can do anything, my love.
My heart races. I put my hands over it. I say, I can process this boulder of grief.
I take a tissue to each tear. I say, I love you woman; I wanna love you whole.
I run a road race and the wind whispers into my hair, everything’s going to be more than okay. (And it is, it is).
13.0 Tweets
11/26/19
Milestones were originally stone obelisks, Roman road markers.
Today we celebrate a milestone of our own: six hundred posts that transformed our blog from single pages to a blog with images, a podcast, and a video.
existentialautotrip.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________________This marker signals the end of today’s posts.
Continue scrolling for the earlier entries, including the Podcast and Video links.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
November 26, 2019
Welcome to the 599th consecutive post to the blog, existentialautotrip.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture:
In 2002, Spirited Away, a Studio Ghibli production directed by Hayao Miyazaki won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
See 11.0 Thumbnails below in this blog for more.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2.0 Commentary:
With the advent of the new architecture of the blog, existentialautotrip.com, life here has gotten more civilized; more organized; more civilized.
And more productive.
Thank you for staying with us during our growing pains.
We are one day day away from 600 posts.
Who’d-a-thunk it?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture with single line comment
2.0 Commentary
3.0 Table of Contents
4.0 Chuckles
5.0 Mail
6.0 Dinner/Food
7.0 Podcast
8.0 Video
9.0 Poetry
10.0 Movie Reviews
11.0 Thumbnails
12.0 Recipes
20.0 Acknowledgements
21.0 Good Morning
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4.0 Chuckles
“An alcoholic is someone who can violate his standards faster than he can lower them.”
― Robin Williams
________________________________________________________________________________________
5.0 Mail
This from Kali L in response to a fan of her work:
Hi,
I never consider my work to be baring my soul. The poems flow from me and I have no feelings for them after they are gone. It is a rare occasion when I see them again and go "oh I understand why people felt that way about it!"
If my honesty helps one person understand themselves a bit more or feel less alone then I am grateful.
I find that it was hiding my feelings and editing who I was for social constructs that created and promoted my loneliness and depression at times.
And I am very sorry there is a person gone from this world via suicide for that persons deep suffering to the loss those around them will feel always- I am truly sorry.
And in my sorrow I say this: Talk about them, remember everything they were. It helps to not forget the bright light they had while they were here. Their loved ones don't want to tip toe around them like they never existed and they are certainly more than their end...we all are.
All my love,
Kali
__________________________________________________________________________________________
11.0 Thumbnail
Spirited Away
is a 2001 Japanese animated coming-of-age fantasy film.
It was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli.
Spirited Away tells the story of Chihiro Ogino (Hiiragi), a moody 10-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighbourhood, enters the world of Kami (spirits) of Japanese Shinto folklore. After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba (Natsuki), Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world.
Miyazaki wrote the script after he decided the film would be based on the 10-year-old daughter of his friend, associate producer Seiji Okuda, who came to visit his house each summer.
At the time, Miyazaki was developing two personal projects, but they were rejected.
With a budget of 19 million US dollars, production of Spirited Away began in 2000.
Pixar director John Lasseter, who is a fan and friend of Miyazaki, convinced Walt Disney Pictures to buy the film's North American distribution rights, and served as the executive producer of its English-dubbed version.
Lasseter hired Kirk Wise as director and Donald W. Ernst as producer of the adaptation. Screenwriters Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt wrote the English-language dialogue to match the characters' original Japanese-language lip movements.
The film was originally released in Japan on 20 July 2001 by distributor Toho.
It became the most successful film in Japanese history, grossing over $365 million worldwide.
The film overtook Titanic (the top-grossing film worldwide at the time) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history with a total of ¥30.8 billion.
Spirited Away received universal acclaim and is frequently ranked among the greatest animated films ever made.
It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, making it the first (and so far only, to date) hand-drawn and non-English-language animated film to win that award.
It was the co-recipient of the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (shared with Bloody Sunday) and is in the top 10 on the British Film Institute's list of "Top 50 films for children up to the age of 14".
In 2016, it was voted the fourth-best film of the 21st century as picked by 177 film critics from around the world, making it the highest-ranking animated film on the list.
It was also named the second "Best Film of the 21st Century So Far" in 2017 by the New York Times.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
November 25, 2019
Welcome to the 598th consecutive post to the blog, existentialautotrip.com
________________________________________________________________________________________
1.0 Lead Picture:
Hash at Dom’s
See #2.0 Commentary for more details.
Sooo good!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2.0 Commentary:
Roast Beef Hash.
One of the classic ways to use up leftovers.
Made that for Sunday’s dinner.
Awesome.
I like my hash to go off in a taste-direction completely different from the original roast.
Two differences in the Roast Beef Hash recipe found in the 12.0 Recipe section below, from other recipes:
The first is the optional addition of a half cup of my own beef gravy (Find gravy recipes in blog in the Recipe section.)
The second, is the treatment of the eggs, seasoned with Romano cheese, beaten, and poured over the hash.
What I love most about cooking is personalizing each dish.
Questioning.
Experimenting.
Developing.
Tweaking.
Tasting.
Sharing.
Find the recipe below in paragraph 12.0 Recipes
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3.0 Table of Contents, November 25
Today’s entries in bold.
For entries posted earlier this week, keep scrolling
1.0 Lead Picture with single line comment
2.0 Commentary
3.0 Table of Contents
4.0 Chuckles
5.0 Mail
6.0 Dinner/Food
7.0 Podcast
8.0 Video
9.0 Poetry
10.0 Movie Reviews
11.0 Thumbnails
12.0 Recipes
20.0 Acknowledgements
21.0 Good Morning
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4.0 Chuckles
“Death is nature’s way of saying, ‘Your table is ready.”
― Robin Williams
_____________________________________________________________________________________________ 12.0 Recipes
Roast Beef Hash
One of the classic recipes for using up leftovers.
Good crusty bread is much appreciated with this dish.
Serves 2
16oz cooked roast beef, cube to taste and reserve
3TB duck fat or other tasty fat, like bacon.
Turning the stove-top between “Medium” and “Simmer,” heat a large cast iron skillet (or fry pan) with the fat in it .
16oz potatoes, large dice (large dice is ¾” on all sides)
Add the potatoes to the hot pan and fry for ten minutes, tossing to cook all sides
Then add 6oz each of:
chopped onion, large dice
bell pepper, large dice
celery, large dice and
to taste, chopped fresh chili
Season with
s/fgp
1TB herbes de Provence and
A generous sprinkling of fresh parsley or basil or dill
While the vegetables are softening, turn the oven to broil.
When the vegetables are fully cooked, add the beef.
Optional: Add ½ cup beef gravy or homemade stock or tomato sauce)
Beat two eggs seasoned with s/fgp and grated Romano cheese.
Slowly pour the eggs all over the hash.
Mix the eggs into the hash and then
Flatten the hash into a pie-shape.
Fry the hash without moving it for five minutes or until it is crispy underneath.
Put the fry pan into the oven, medium shelf, and
broil until the hash gets a nice color, about six minutes.
Serve.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
NOVEMBER 24 ENTRIES
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Lead Picture
Midway through the brilliant and deeply unsettling Parasite, a destitute man voices empathy for a family that has shown him none. “They’re rich but still nice,” he says, aglow with good will. His wife has her doubts. “They’re nice because they’re rich,” she counters. This exchange is the microcosmic version of the film’s entire story and boy is it a doozy.
Poster for South Korean film Parasite, theatrically released on May 30, 2019
See ‘Thumbnails’ for a movie review penned by Tucker Johnson
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Commentary:
It’s here!
The new form of the existentialautotrip.com blog.
600 entries in the making.
600.
Perhaps 60,000 questions, asked and answered.
Ultimately, a presentation with which I am pleased.
It’ll provide an idiom with which followers will grow accustomed.
Logical and repetitive.
In a presentation visually more appealing.
And timely, just three entries before our 600th.
It’s our version of the 4th of July fireworks.
Hope you like it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Chuckle from Robin Williams
“Why do they call it rush hour if no one moves?”
___________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Blog News (re: existentialautotrip.com)
600th anniversary of the blog.
Three more days.
YaYY!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
4A. News re: volunteers to work on the blog
Looking for someone or two who would like to help with some part of the blog.
Are you interested?
domcapossela@hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________________________________
5. We love getting mail.
Contact me at domcapossela@hotmail.com
We received an email from Sally C:
When I read it, I sent Sally this:
Hi, Sally,
I would not ask this of a non-writing person but I ask you as a writer if you find this note too personal.
no names are involved.
and I think some people, many people, going through these issues might appreciate a first-hand account of a friend's feelings.
so, may I print it?
Dom
And Sally responded:
Dear Dom,
Considering how much Kali has bared her soul, which enriches us all profoundly, I don't think my note approaches her level. Nevertheless, I have no problem if you would like to share it with your readers. In this electronically disconnected world, we all need more emotional and spiritual depth from and involvement with our fellow travelers on this earth. It helps us to learn to rejoice in how much we share, rather than obsess over what few differences separate us.
Sally
And so here is the original email that Sally C sent:
Hi, Dom,
I don't know if Colleen sends you all of our submissions, but I thought you might enjoy my submission this month. You are full of joy. (Too few people are these days.)
My heart was badly bruised two weeks ago when I learned that a dear friend with whom I lost touch a year ago had succumbed to suicide a day or two after we last spoke. He was one of those people whom you have always known, even if you've just met. It turns out that in his last days, his ex-wife showed him the compassion he so desperately needed, none of the many friends whose lives he himself touched with so much compassion. After 25 years, I've reconnected with her. I think he'd be pleased.
Anticipating a little road trip this weekend to PA and maybe a day in DC. Juggling too many variables, but what the heck? I'm just going to go with the flow.
Much love to you, my friend!
Sally
Web Meister responds: Life.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
In Chapter Seven we saw Dee get a makeover that alleviated some of the horrendous scars of her ferocious addiction. And she gained two valuable allies, Sam and Jesse, of the Boston police.
In this chapter, Eight, Dee will hang with her parents and disclose her plans.
This is the link that will get you to the entire series of Conflicted podcasts:
https://soundcloud.com/user-449713331/sets/conflicted-dom-capossela
The podcasts are also available on iTunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both
Dom’s website: existentialautotrip.com
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8. “Hello! my friends,” Video
Number 1 in the series:
“Faye Dunaway Loses her Head, and Christopher is distraught”
The video series “Hello, my friends” are also available on YouTube, Tunes, Stitcher, Pinterest, Pocket Cast, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela
Dom’s website: existentialautotrip.com
_____________________________________________________________________________________________9. Poetry
Happy One Year
Kali Lamparelli
I want to call you and say Happy one year,
Cheers Babi!...to the end of us.
The worst love stories drive you mad.
They take you to the very edge of your nerves.
Oh, we practiced this so many times.
Around three months, you said you
didn't know if you could marry me.
I was so sure I could become thinner.
I could dazzle you with my kindness.
I could get my eyebrows done on schedule.
I would cover my gray and drink more water.
You'd make me whole and marry
me. I had to love myself whole.
Dinner melted on my tongue.
Prince died and it was my brother's birthday.
We were 5,000 miles from home and my heart was splintered.
I left you in the hotel room calling out Bonsoir to the front desk.
I wandered until my feet went numb and let the language
carry me. Back then I wanted to tell a love story. I wrote it
so well even I believed I was happy.
A year and half in, I asked, are you
cheating on me? You said, No, but there are things
I want. I want to live abroad without you. I want to be alone.
Splintered heart.
You were though. I'd show up with dinner.
I'd vacuum your house. I'd make you breakfast.
Your come would lotion my skin; my skin still dry.
You never told me your truth. You'd smooth it over with a smile
or a casual I love you. Or you'd just say, "what's
the big deal? I'm not ready. I just don't know."
I was a body showing up week after week.
In the end we said, Happy Friendsgiving and I texted my
friends: I can't live anymore; I am dying.
The worst love stories drive you mad.
The best love stories don't need words, only the air to float.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
10. Movie Review: Tucker Johnson
Midway through the brilliant and deeply unsettling Parasite, a destitute man voices empathy for a family that has shown him none. “They’re rich but still nice,” he says, aglow with good will. His wife has her doubts. “They’re nice because they’re rich,” she counters. This exchange is the microcosmic version of the film’s entire story and boy is it a doozy.
Given the title, one might assume director Bong Joon Ho is dipping his toes into science fiction again, a belated follow-up to his rip-roaring monster movie, The Host. But the only parasites here are human. That, anyway, is how some might describe the twentysomething Ki-woo (Choi Woo Shik), who fakes a college degree to hustle his way into a cushy job tutoring a rich teenager. He most certainly needs the money. Ki-woo, lives in a cramped basement apartment with his father, Ki-taek (Bong regular Song Kang Ho); his mother, Chung-sook (Chang Hyae Jin); and his adult sister, Ki-jung (Park So Dam). To make ends (barely) meet, they fold boxes for a small-time pizza company. To stay connected with the world, they crouch on kitchen counters, picking up a faint Wi-Fi signal from a nearby café. When exterminators spray the street outside with toxic chemicals, the Kims leave their windows open; they’ve got a bug problem and can’t turn down a free solution to it.
Parasite won the Palme d’Or (essentially Best Picture) at Cannes this year, and it bears a certain resemblance to last year’s winner, Shoplifters, which also concerned an impoverished family, doing whatever it takes to get by. But for Bong’s close-knit conspirators, “whatever it takes” goes far beyond the five-finger discount. From the moment Ki-woo steps into the swanky Park residence, he seems to recognize opportunities beyond the academic needs of the teenaged Da-Hye (Jung Zisa). Her mother, the wealthy Mrs. Park (Cho Yeo Jeong), is as gullible as she is comfortable—and Ki-woo, who calls himself “Kevin,” quickly manipulates her parental anxieties. Soon, his sister is masquerading as an art-therapy specialist, “Jessica,” who promises to help the wealthy family’s wild grade-school-age son, Da-song (Jung Hyeon Jun), overcome imaginary trauma. And when that somehow works, the Kims begin plotting to free up some other spots on the payroll… the ones already occupied by the family driver and the longtime housekeeper.
For a while, Parasite is just pure diabolical fun: a con-artist story where the game is turning one-percenters into unknowing job creators. Bong, stages the elaborate maneuverings of the plot like a heist movie, cutting nimbly back and forth between planning and execution. The Kims meticulously forge documents, write and rehearse their lines and backstories and go fake car shopping to learn the features of a Mercedes Benz—it’s what Ocean’s Eleven might look like if George Clooney and his boys were desperate grifters using all their savvy just to secure gainful employment. Yet that’s only half of the film’s grand design. Saying too much more about the complications that spring up might spoil the big surprises it begins dropping around its midway mark. Bong, of course, has always been a devious film trickster; his movies, like the terrifically unresolved police procedural Memories of Murder, often zig when you expect them to zag. But Parasite isn’t just thrillingly unpredictable. It pivots with purpose, the class politics setting the trajectory.
The film turns out to be a kindred spirit to Jordan Peele’s Us, another genre hybrid about the subterranean lives of the have-nots, eked out below those of the oblivious haves. What Bong is after is the way capitalism pushes people to extremes and pits them against each other in a zero-sum game for survival. “Money is an iron,” Chung-sook says at one point of her employers, arguing that their privilege and security smooths out any wrinkles in their personalities; they can afford to be nice, because they don’t have to fight for anything. Parasite has an undeniable social conscience, but it rarely feels like a film guided by morals. That’s because Bong doesn’t create a simple good/bad dichotomy between these entwined clans. The Parks, including the family’s slickly ambivalent patriarch (Lee Sun Kyun), are more thoughtless and oblivious than malicious. And the Kims are far from saints, or noble emblems of working-class perseverance; besides some of the unsavory tactics of sabotage they use to assure their entrenchment in the household, there’s the lopsided romance that develops between Ki-woo and his high school pupil—a wince inducing story element that the film plays pretty matter-of-factly.
Parasite is just too wildly entertaining to ever become a soapbox movie. Bong, working again with cinematographer Hong Gyeong-Pyo crafts his images with exceptional technical confidence. He likes to move the camera, sometimes just to nudge your attention from where you think it should be, but always in concert with his restlessly inventive staging. When, in an early scene, the Kims crowd their superior from the pizza company, their bodies nearly spilling out of the frame, the image both implies the family’s closeness and foreshadows their collective assault on the Parks. Bong refuses to sentimentalize the Kims’ togetherness or their poverty. But he does pointedly set it against the relative isolation of the Parks, who don’t often share the same shot much less the same room. Parasite is a marvel of editing as well. So much so that it puts the vast majority of Hollywood blockbusters to shame. There are sequences in this movie good enough to leave a viewer giddy with disbelief; one involving a mad scramble to hide within the film’s posh suburban palace plays out on a dizzying tightrope between hilarious and nail-bitingly suspenseful. Parasite cuts a jagged path from screwball farce to violently unhinged thriller to something like tragedy—it’s the Bong special, a rollercoaster ride across the vast spectrum of genre filmmaking. What lingers, though, is the melancholy chill of its final destination, and what the film has to say about the pipe dream of keeping up with the Joneses. When you can’t beat ’em or join ’em, is there anywhere to go but down?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
11. Thumbnail
Replaced today by the Movie Review.
A tip o' the hat (U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, 1924) after signing an Indian treaty.
Sly devil that he was.
___________________________________________
20. Acknowledgements
Thanks to Sally C for her sharing her personal entries.
And to Kail for another impressive poem.
And thanks to Tucker for his terrific and timely movie review.
And WCAT for their support and assistance.
And to Robin Williams for his chuckle.
Thanks always to the Microsoft team at the Prudential Center for their unflagging availability to help with a constant flow of technological problems.
Always thanks to Wikipedia: what a resource. They are truly worthy of public support.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
21. Good Morning
Whee!
What a great look!
But now? Gotta go.
Che vuoi? Le pocketbook?
See you soon.
Your Taeyeon