Thursday, January 28, 2010

RIP JD Salinger


The ways are many but the end is one the old man used to say.

Jerome David Salinger affected young lives like few other modern writers have.

I first read The Catcher in the Rye when I was 18 and have read it every 10 years since.

The liberating thing about it was that we could dare to begin to articulate the anger at all the little things we became aware of as young adults.

Before reading The Catcher in the Rye, we were all followers.

After reading The Catcher in the Rye, we found it ok to vent, emote and question our packaged, prep-school, adolescent lives.

Reading it as an older person, one is wiser and more grateful for it.

Is it the greatest literary masterpiece of all eternity? No.

But it belonged to us because we 'got it' when nobody else 'got' us.

Or so we thought...


"The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy a liquid" ---From DeDaumier-Smith's Blue Period

Saturday, January 16, 2010

NostalPic---9th Hole


Occasionally I will post old pics I have forgotten, re-discovered or come across unexpectedly. Let's call it NostalPic without it getting too mushy.

The past is as precious as the present.
Well, maybe not all of it...just the happy times, moments, places...

This is a place on this earth that has no particular connection to anything or anyone other than I often think about it for reasons I cannot explain 'cause I don't know how. The tree is the thing, I think...

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Monday, January 11, 2010

Erich Rohmer

People die everyday and while I do not believe that one human being's life is better than another's--there are people, whether you know them personally or not, who impact your life in ways unimagined by you and unknown to them.

Jean-Marie Maurice Scherer, better known to the Cinema world as Eric Rohmer died today at the age of 89. A full life.

As I devoured movies growing up, thirsting for experiencing life, and quickly outgrowing what the latest blockbusters had to offer, I sought the advice and guidance of a small movie guide which i found in an old bookstore. Time and again Rohmer's movies were given 5 stars.

The first one I took on was Pauline at the Beach, quickly followed by Claire's Knee and then My Night at Maud's and La Collectionneusse.



What a world I had discovered!
But curiously, it was all very real--very tangible. Up on the screen were real people, regular looking with regular lives and regular dilemmas. But the language, the radical thinking, the twisting conversations, the dialogue was what was different. These were not regular people. These were characters given life by someone who knew life better than anyone else. Someone with wit, compassion, humanity and lots of humor. No tricks, no effects, no gimmicks. Pure life with real issues and infinite questions about what we mean to each other and how quickly we can change our minds and our feelings. How a fling can end up costing you years of your life, only to end up in the arms of another without missing a beat.


He belonged to the productive group of his time consisting of no less than Jean-Pierre Melville, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Agnes Varda, Alain Resnais, Jacques Rivette and Louis Malle.

A giant among giants, although he never considered himself a giant. He was having fun all along--enjoying what he was doing and even embracing new technologies like video and digital media.


Tonight I will sit back and watch his masterpiece again--Chloe in the Afternoon--and float back into a world where thinking and talking are the keys to the beginnings of understanding our tiny little foibles. Internal monologues, indecisions, doubts, discussions, ideas--discussing ideas...

Although his work will never be seriously considered in the same sentences as Godard or Welles or even Spielberg (GASP!!!) it is probable they will endure intellectually, which is precisely how it should be.

Had I not discovered Mr. Rohmer's films, I would be incomplete.

Ebert sums it up nicely: "Rohmer is the romantic philosopher of the French New Wave, the director whose characters make love with words as well as flesh. They are open to sudden flashes of passion, they become infatuated at first sight, but then they descend into doubt and analysis, talking intensely about what it all means. Because they're invariably charming, and because coincidence and serendipity play such a large role in his stories, this is more cheerful than it sounds. As he grows older Rohmer's heart grows younger, and at 81 he is more in tune with love than the prematurely cynical authors of Hollywood teen romances.".

Friday, January 8, 2010

The Union Forever


Charles Foster Kane
: You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man.

Thatcher: Don't you think you are?

Charles Foster Kane: I think I did pretty well under the circumstances.

Thatcher: What would you like to have been?

Charles Foster Kane: Everything you hate.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

January 6 1988

A significant day in the life
and course of history
of a family.

It was snowy and the ride back from Northport
was slow and ominous.

Walking up the steps to the apartment
I had a bad feeling about the note that was taped to the door.

Each message became progressively
worse
and urgent as the following
days
passed.

Almost 10 years of separation
between a daughter and her father
was almost going to end in a joyful trip
to support him on his recovery.

She never had a chance to say goodbye--
not in a way that he could hear

or one that she could see a reaction.

For all the spirituality
and optimism
that has always been engraved in your
head
of an afterlife
and paradise
and eternal life

it is a cold hard reality
when it finally comes.

but his death
had more
earthly
attainable
tangible rewards.

It changed the lives
of an 18-year-old
and a 13-year-old
in ways
unanticipated
and
unimaginable.

To that point
I was headed in a wrong direction
satisfied only with temporal things:
instant gratification, living someone else's life
following the herd without a hint
of humility and originality.

I was even hesitant to go--
when I arrived in Buenos Aires
I wanted to cut the trip short
and return to NY asap.

But in Mendoza
I discovered
for the first time--
Love
Love for a woman--
Friendship
memories bottled up inside.
I unlocked the sadness I always
felt but never could explain--
it was there
the bond to a homeland
is indescribable.
You just feel it.

Being uprooted
was painful
but returning was sweet
and
necessary
and
inevitable.

it was unfortunate
to have my grandfather die
in order for me (us)
to have that revelation
that comeuppance
that awakening.

And it has not been
perfect along the way--
there has been
heartbreak
sadness
disappointment
as is natural--

But the essence of all
that has been good
up until today
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
will always be linked
to January 6, 1988

the day
a special person died
was the day I became alive.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Monday, January 4, 2010

Sandro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AVWQlvE9zM

A true artist of his time and beyond--unknown, perhaps forever, to most of the planet.

At first glance, he will come off as campy, trashy--even slightly feminine-- as Freddy Mercury may have appeared at times.

But his essence was tirelessly masculine, theatrical--the ultimate sweet talker.

If you have never heard his music I encourage you to seek it.

The language barrier may be an issue but if you are lucky enough to find his videos, his body language--like an Elvis on hard aphrodisiacs, will no doubt capture your attention.

There are no men like this anymore.
Expressive, macho, smooth, willing to bare it all for the woman he loves no matter how foolish he would appear.

Full of charisma.

The ultimate Don Juan on stage and on record.

He will be missed but his music endures.