tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2950543078405160932024-03-13T06:51:17.585-07:00ROGER'S ANGLEThis blog is a running commentary on everything I care about: the arts, culture, nutrition, exercise, aging, politics, current events, education, the environment, media, journalism, crime, history, movies, novels, poetry, the outdoors, family, psychology, philosophy, religion, and, perhaps most important, the vagaries of love. Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.comBlogger408125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-25604967807094253292013-10-21T13:40:00.002-07:002013-10-21T13:40:31.835-07:00'THE BLACKLIST' -- TOO MUCH HOKUM FOR ME <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tried to watch the new TV series "The Blacklist" the other night. I wanted to like it and tried hard to keep watching, but thought it had serious problems of logic and heavy handedness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like the main actor, James Spader, but he plays a cliche--a former top-gun American hero who went bad for no reason. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OK, I thought. I can live with one cliche. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then Spader's character, Reddington, picks up a mysterious briefcase in a public park. Another cliche, this one from spy movies. </span><br />
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Reddington goes into a gov’t
office bldg and reveals his identity. Red alert! Red alert! Everyone goes nuts. Soon a dozen guns are pointed at him. Yeah, right. We are supposed to believe he scares the crap out of the whole national security apparatus. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But why? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Isn't anyone well trained enough to keep their cool? I guess not. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then
Reddington will only talk to a pretty young woman FBI profiler, on her first day on the job. First day? How likely is that? And he knows intimate
details about her life. Well, that is hard to swallow, but I kept watching. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">We are supposed to be jacked up and think this guy is so dangerous he scares the poop out of everyone in Washington, D.C. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then he tells her that a dangerous terrorist is going to
kidnap a young girl, age 8 or 9, who is the daughter of a U.S. general. For some reason her bosses suddenly gain respect for her and let her run the rescue operation. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sure. Of course. Just what you would do, right? I don't think so. The show gets more and more preposterous as it goes along. </span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But wait, the BS gets deeper and deeper. </span></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The FBI's secret black-ops division mounts a protective
mission to save the little girl, but the terrorists know the exact route the convoy takes. They stage an elaborate attack
where they block off a bridge and blow the hell out of everything in sight. It’s like a scene out of
“Terminator 2.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Say what? H</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ow did the bad guys
know where they’d be? It makes no sense. It looks like Reddington may have set
them up. If he hadn’t told them, there could have been no big attack. But how
would he know where the kid would be? How would he know the route of the convoy?
Makes no sense. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p>How would the terrorists know any of this? I didn't buy it. </o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p>And of course the pretty woman barely survives the preposterous attack and shoots one of the baddies. She feels bad about losing the kid, and we are supposed to feel bad for her. </o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The show is all
razzle-dazzle with no logic. The purpose of every scene is to jack up the audience,
not to reveal character or plumb the depths of the human condition. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So now the bad guys have
the kid and you would think the FBI would suspect that Reddington set them up and tipped off the terrorists. That is what I thought. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But no. T</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">he FBI, including the cute profiler, now trust Reddington. What? It makes
no sense. So then, they let him out of custody and set him up in his favorite 5-star
hotel. WTF? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">None of this makes any sense. Check your brain at the door. </span></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now the attractive FBI
profiler goes home and the terrorist is there, torturing her husband. What? How
did the terrorist know where she lives? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The show is remarkable only for its use of magical knowledge
and gratuitous violence. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was going to record the series and watch each episode. Alas, I didn't make it through the pilot. That was enough </span>hokum for me. <br />
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-- Roger <br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br /></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">### <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-11047792024235301552013-07-11T07:52:00.001-07:002013-07-11T07:52:57.598-07:00'THE BRIDGE' - REALLY? <div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1951">
<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1952"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tried to watch the much advertised and highly touted new FX series THE BRIDGE last night. </span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The show presents itself as highly realistic. Indeed, it goes to great lengths to seem realistic, but then it gets hokey, unbelievable and heavy handed. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span>The first episode seemed to be </span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1950">written to manipulate the audience, not to be believable, or to develop story, or to reveal character, or to teach us about the real world of the border or the police. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1947"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the show, the bad guys shut off the electricity for the whole international border. Very dramatic to see, but not remotely believable. Still, I kept watching. You can forgive one shovel full of BS. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div>
<span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1847"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then they dump a body right on the border line? Why? No point that I can see, except to jack up the audience. Why not dump the body in the river, like everyone else? They want to make a big statement. OK. I kept watching. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1929"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The female detective won't let the ambulance through? Ridiculous. And heartless. The crime scene is a major highway. One more set of tires is not going to matter forensically. </span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1932"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The cop runs after the ambulance like a little kid? Wait, she is supposed to be a grownup homicide detective. What are we supposed to think, that she throws a childish fit when her authority is questioned? Does not make me admire her or want to keep watching. </span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">
<span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1935"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That was it for me. I turned it off and stopped recording. Three (no, four) strikes and you're out. </span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">
<span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1943"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why not have pigs fly and elephants dancing a jig? </span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1942" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">
<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1970"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because you lose the audience. </span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
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<span></span><span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1373550449169_1969"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's what happened to me here. </span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">
<span></span><span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is very disappointing to see so much time and talent and effort expended on a show that is so ham-handed and hokey. I thought this was supposed to be the golden age of long-form TV. I don't see it here. </span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span> </div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span>-- Roger </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span> </div>
Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-46099531719569171732013-05-06T14:24:00.000-07:002013-05-06T14:24:18.612-07:00'DJANGO' JANGLES MY NERVES <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
I finally managed to struggle through "Django Unchained," the most recent movie by Quentin Tarantino, who seems to be an overgrown 12-year-old with an exaggerated sense of his own self-importance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are my notes: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Bookman Old Style"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">DJANGO
UNCHAINED </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tedious. Hours of boredom punctuated by moments of light
entertainment. How did Q. Tarantino get to be such a big deal? His sense of
timing alone puts me off. His humor is juvenile and what he finds meaningful is
absurd. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In one sequence, Django is separated from his long-lost wife for months
or years and then decides to do a winter’s worth of bounty hunting before going
to rescue her. Meanwhile, she is probably being beaten and raped. He doesn’t seem
to care. Finally, he finds her. Then, unbelievably, he waits behind a door
while the good doctor Schultz rambles on and on, pointlessly. The first delay
is sort of forgivable, as we are only told about it. The second delay is maddening. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The ending does not honor the characters
or pay off what has been set up. (SPOILER ALERT) For example, the formerly
clever Dr. Schultz gets stupid (for the sake of the script) and shoots Calvin Candie (stupid name, both for
him and for Candyland) and then is shot by a minor character. Yet Schultz has
been the pivotal character, the linchpin for the whole plot. Boom, he is gone.
No grand finale here. And his action violates the character. An opportunity for
drama wasted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Overall, this was a good idea for a movie—white bounty hunter rescues
black man from slavery—but this movie is slow, stupid, and juvenile, a long
slow form of torture. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One would hope that a "major" Hollywood writer/director could do better. </span></div>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">-- Roger </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
</span>Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-29012277751338282792013-04-15T08:56:00.002-07:002013-04-15T08:56:38.042-07:00IS AMERICA SICK? Why are there so many creepy people in TV dramas and in the movies? <br />
<br />
TV shows that seem sick to me: <br />
<ul>
<li>GAME OF THRONES </li>
<li>DEXTER </li>
<li>CRIMINAL MINDS </li>
<li>THE FOLLOWING </li>
</ul>
I have tried to watch these shows and they seem to wallow in human pathology. <br />
<br />
"Criminal Minds" usually starts out with innocent people being assaulted by depraved criminals. Do we really need to see that? What is the purpose? To show us that the bad guys are really bad? Or are we supposed to get turned on by the violence? <br />
<br />
"Game of Thrones" is about people who sell their souls for power. Seems sick to me. It's about manipulation and depravity. I liked the opening of the first episode, in the great white north, but after that, it lost me. Turned my stomach. <br />
<br />
"Dexter" is about a sick man, a serial killer who kills other killers. I didn't last long. I watched part of one episode. Yuck. <br />
<br />
"The Following" features a psychopath who is admired and followed by other sickos who imitate him. We are treated to rooms full of slaughtered women, some hanging upside down with their throats cut and their eyes gouged out. What could be sicker than that? <br />
<br />
What is the purpose of all this depravity? To turn our stomachs? It certainly is not uplifting and offers no insight into human nature, except perhaps into the nature of the audience. <br />
<br />
Have we become like ancient Rome, where powerless citizens cheered actual violence, mayhem and murder? Where demented people got off on violence done to others? <br />
<br />
That is what it looks like. After years of pointless, stupid wars and senseless slaughter, have our sick politics crept deeply into our souls and turned us into parasites that feed off violence? <br />
<br />
I think so. <br />
<br />
Welcome to Sick America. <br />
<br />
-- Roger <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
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<br />
Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-28826972519296113232013-04-01T14:58:00.001-07:002013-04-01T15:09:11.806-07:00UPDATE ON LOVE & LIT CONTEST To update an earlier blog post, I am even more in love, if that is possible, and I did enter the Inkubate contest. The deadline was yesterday. The website was confusing, but with some help from my GF, we got it done. It's nice to have help. <br />
<br />
This whole love thing is a lot more profound and moving than I thought. I opted out of it for about 15 years. But now I am back into it, deeper than ever before. At least, that is the way it feels. So far, so good. Very good. <br />
<br />
-- Roger <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span>Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-41087777745994741222013-04-01T14:51:00.005-07:002013-04-01T14:51:44.487-07:00A GOOD REPUBLICAN Here is an article in the L.A. Times about a good Republican, former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.): <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-alan-simpson-gores-gop-on-immigration-obama-on-budget-20130327,0,1336372.story"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-alan-simpson-gores-gop-on-immigration-obama-on-budget-20130327,0,1336372.story</span></a><br />
<br />
This dude tells it like it is. Pulls no punches. Takes no prisoners. Calls it like he sees it. All the good cliches apply. <br />
<br />
Why aren't there more Republicans like this? <br />
<br />
I don't know, but I suspect there are two reasons: <br />
<ol>
<li>They don't have the guts. </li>
<li>Their political future is tied to big business of some kind, most likely oil or finance. They have been bought and paid for. Some Democrats are like that, too. </li>
</ol>
The solution to gutless politicians, I think, is to get the money out of politics, as much as possible. <br />
<br />
Get rid of <em>Citizens United</em>, the shockingly unfair Supreme Court decision that declared, irrationally, that corporations have the same legal status as people and that there are no limits to political spending. <br />
<br />
Right on, Alan Simpson. <br />
<br />
We may not see your like again. <br />
<br />
-- Roger <br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-54211375654948331662013-03-03T08:57:00.001-08:002013-03-03T21:41:39.203-08:00FAT AND UNHAPPY Now I know why most Americans are overfed and undernourished: They eat sugar on top of sugar, not to mention fat and salt. <br />
<br />
I made the mistake the last few days of trying to eat like "normal" people. I was at Grandparents Day at my grandsons' school, and for treats they had fresh fruit, which of course is very good for you. But they also had pastries made with white flour. <br />
<br />
I ate some fresh fruit, which is yummy, but then like a fool I gobbled up some berry compote, which tasted so very good. Fruit, white flour, nuts, and sugar. Not good but not terrible for you. But I also ate a mini-donut, and three or four small pieces of cake. <br />
<br />
Yargh. Empty calories with no nutritional value. <br />
<br />
Then, on Saturday, I went to a pancake breakfast for opening day of the kids' baseball season. Of course, the pancakes were made with white flour. Why in the world don't they use whole wheat? I will never understand. <br />
<br />
And they serve it with syrup, which is of course mostly sugar. The white flour converts rapidly into blood sugar, so your body is assaulted with sugar on top of sugar. <br />
<br />
Here is a link to a site that explains glycemic index and what happens in your body when you eat white flour, white rice, or white sugar, and other foods that convert quickly into blood sugar. It is a disaster: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=faq&dbid=32#practical">http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=faq&dbid=32#practical</a><br />
<br />
If you are hypoglycemic, like I am, you feel sick the rest of the day. I got light headed and a headache and felt sick to my stomach until I ate two cheeseburgers to stop the downward spiral of low blood sugar. But that is using grease and starch--unhealthy food--to stop the effects of unhealthy food. The hamburger has a lot of protein, which I needed. <br />
<br />
Here is another link, to a site explaining what junk food does to your brain and the brains of your children: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/fat-food-brain-chemical-changes-depression-withdrawal_n_2287880.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/fat-food-brain-chemical-changes-depression-withdrawal_n_2287880.html</a><br />
<br />
Here is another link, more information on the effects of junk food. If these links don't get you away from junk food, I don't know what will: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/scientists-learn-how-food-affects-52668.aspx">http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/scientists-learn-how-food-affects-52668.aspx</a><br />
<br />
Why do most Americans eat food that is bad for them, and why do they feed unhealthy foods to their children? <br />
<br />
I have no idea. I thought when we discovered health food, way back in the 60s and 70s--"you are what you eat"--that no one would eat junk food any more. I thought MacDonald's would go out of business and IHOP would serve nothing but whole-wheat pancakes with unsweetened apple sauce and low-fat cottage cheese for toppings. <br />
<br />
Boy, was I wrong. <br />
<br />
Americans consume bad food by the ton. I want to say like pigs at a trough, but I don't want to be unkind. <br />
<br />
For me, the effects are immediate, within minutes. I still have a headache from yesterday. I had to eat some raw nuts and raisins and some high-fiber, high-protein cereal with low-fat milk to get back to normal. <br />
<br />
But most people don't have those warning signs. The effects of bad food come slowly, over time. Heart disease. Diabetes. Effects on the brain. <br />
<br />
Here is another site, explaining the long-term effects of junk food: <br />
<br />
<a href="http://kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2012/08/21/the-long-term-effects-of-that-fast-food-meal/">http://kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2012/08/21/the-long-term-effects-of-that-fast-food-meal/</a><br />
<br />
I wish everyone could see the consequences of their diet. Warning buzzers. Red flags. I wish they had a nutrition coach who would yell, "Stop! You are killing yourselves!" <br />
<br />
In a way, I'm glad I can't eat junk food. Because if I could, I probably would, like everyone else. <br />
<br />
Thank God I can't. <br />
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If I could have one wish, I'd fix it so that junk food made everyone as sick as it does me. <br />
<br />
-- Roger <br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-3379146857106255002013-02-27T14:47:00.002-08:002013-02-27T17:13:21.458-08:00LOVE AT 74 ... MY NOVEL ... POLITICS ... THE WAR ON DRUGS <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some topics I have been meaning to blog about: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Falling in love at 74, really for the first time, is amazing, so different from anything I ever experienced before. I have gone through a dozen profound emotional changes. Feel like a character in an ancient myth about a traveler who has to slay his own demons to get to the Garden of Bliss. Fortunately, my GF is very patient and understanding. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Am about to finish a new draft of my novel "The Prince of Newport," a mainstream novel with thriller elements set in Newport Beach. An idealistic young reporter tries to stop a killer/con-man. </span></li>
<li>I plan to enter a contest for a literary blockbuster, exactly the kind of novel I am trying to write: <a href="http://www.inkubate.com/Home/Contest">http://www.inkubate.com/Home/Contest</a></li>
<li>Am working on a short story called "Alien Love" about a man who finds love and death and a mystery at the border with Mexico. </li>
<li>I thank my lucky stars every day that Mitt Romney didn't win the election for president of the USA. What a total disaster that would have been. There are enough lies and deceit already in the world. He and Paul Ryan never told the truth about anything. They live in a parallel universe that most resembles "The Hunger Games." </li>
<li>The stupid "War on Drugs" is utterly and profoundly misdirected. Why don't we outlaw belching and farting and bad TV shows? How about junk food, which is much worse than marijuana, for Christ's sake. Where did our politicians get the idea that the way to stop addiction is to throw people in jail? There is an anti-drug industrial complex like the military-industrial complex. Billions of dollars wasted. So dumb. Much like these insane, punitive foreign wars -- Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq. Oh, let's gear up, spend tons of money, and send in people with guns. That'll fix the problem. Yeah, right. No, no, no, that <em>is</em> the problem. Reminds me of a quote from Will Rogers: <span style="font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“If stupidity got us into this mess, then why
can't it get us out?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></li>
</ol>
-- Roger <br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<ol>
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Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-51089795795426457422013-02-03T12:23:00.000-08:002013-04-01T14:59:36.531-07:00MY FRIEND STEPHANIE <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you get older, you don't have a lot of time in your future--you don't know how much time, it could be decades or years or minutes--so you tend to focus partly on the past. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Today, I was thinking about an old friend, Stephanie Eve Bernstein. She was one of my best friends in graduate school, at UC Irvine, 1970-72. We got our MFAs at the same time, and she gave the commencement address for master's degrees that year. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">We hung out together a lot, and she was one of our rising stars in the literary world. The prestigious Paris Review published one of her short stories, and she met George Plimpton and Gina Berriault and other literary lights. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">She was smart and funny and fun to know. I loved her as a friend and wondered if we should be romantic together. One time, sitting outside at UCI, I asked her to marry me, knowing she would say no. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">She did, and suddenly the world came into sharper focus. The trees looked like cardboard cutouts, like a stage set, and I was relieved. Nothing focuses the mind, they say, like that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">After graduate school, she moved to L.A. and then New York, as I recall, then back to L.A. She worked for Jeremy Tarcher and I think she worked for Harper & Row (now Harper Collins). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">She got New Agey and dragged me to a couple of events involving some guru with a name like Swami <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Satchidananda</span> or something. I said, "Didn't he play third base for the Brooklyn Dodgers?" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">She laughed, but we never saw eye-to-eye on that stuff. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Anyway, I loved her, and the world lost her on April 23, 1990, when she was brutally raped and murdered in her Venice apartment, apparently by a guy who was out on parole for rape and robbery. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The cops arrested a suspect, and the newspaper printed his name, Kermis Taffy Thompson Jr., 29, of Venice. I tried off and on for years to find out what happened to him, but I never was able to. (See note below.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">If he was guilty--and there seemed little doubt--I hope he was executed. I know that is barbaric and all, but she was my friend, and she didn't deserve to die. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Anyway, over the years, I think about her once in a while, maybe once or twice a week, and wish she could have lived to fulfill the promise of her life. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">It's too bad she didn't. I wish she had. I miss her, even now. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">PS: Two friends, Phil and J.B., found Kermis Taffy Thompson Jr. for me. He was convicted of Stephanie's murder on May 22, 1991, and sentenced on June 13, 1991. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He is currently serving life without parole in Calipatria State Prison, in the desert south of the Salton Sea. His prison number is C17112. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright © 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-40220296948603256822013-01-27T10:24:00.001-08:002013-01-27T14:07:49.565-08:00FAT FOOD, LEAN FOOD <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I lost 15 pounds over six months, I did it by cutting calories, but the key was eating foods that lasted but were low in calories. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Now that I have gained 5 lbs back, I need to rededicate myself to losing some lard. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I need foods that are high in protein, fiber and healthy fat. One of my staples was Go Lean cereal by Kashi. Problem was, I ate too much of it, and it has so much fiber that it can be hard to digest. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What any weight-loss program needs are foods that make you feel full, don't make you even more hungry, and provide basic nutrition. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here are some websites that help: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Self magazine: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><a href="http://www.self.com/fooddiet/2010/03/20-superfoods-slideshow#slide=1">http://www.self.com/fooddiet/2010/03/20-superfoods-slideshow#slide=1</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">WebMD: </span><br />
<a href="http://www.webmd.com/default.htm">http://www.webmd.com/default.htm</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I love its slide shows on diet tips and diet mistakes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The Mayo Clinic: </span><br />
<a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/NU00595">http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/NU00595</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Getting lean and staying slim comes down to a choice you make every time you pick up a spoon or pick up a weight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Yesterday, I got hooked on trail mix. Boy, that stuff tastes good. But it is sky-high in calories. One-fourth of a cup has 160 calories. That isn't even a handful. It's easy to lard up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The opposite of that is lean meat, which has a high ratio of protein to calories and is low in fat. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">We all need to find the foods that work for us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Good luck. To you and me. We all need it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-84153271404646783612013-01-26T09:34:00.000-08:002013-02-20T15:58:22.143-08:00PAIN, WEAK HANDS, CURSING <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pardon my French, but old age is a bitch. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">These are NOT the "Golden Years." Where the hell is the gold? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm 74 freakin' years old, and this is, as one doctor put it, "The Age of Pain." </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">It is also a time of weak hands and swearing. The words I most hear out of my mouth are curse words. "Damn it to hell." "F**k." "Sh*t." </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I drop things, I trip over things, I stub my toe, I screw things up. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I don't intend to do any of these things, they just happen. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">And that is part of the problem. I feel young inside, sometimes 18, or 35, or 50. I sure as hell don't feel 74, whatever that feels like. I don't want to know. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Nobody wants to get old, including me. Especially me, young at heart as I am. Hell, I'm still flirting with women, even though they are not as young as they used to be. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Of course, that does NOT apply to me. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I still want to go mountain biking and body surfing and scuba diving. I don't, but it sounds like fun. I still want to race my road bike against my bicycle buddies. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Your hands get weak, but they don't FEEL weak. Jars are a lot harder to open. You can't fix things like you used to. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">This morning, I tried to take the top off a spray can of olive oil. My hands were slightly oily, so I couldn't get it. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I got out a kitchen tool used to remove lids. I squeezed the hell out of the plastic top, crushing it, and twisted the hell out of the little bastard, and sure enough, it finally popped off. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">So did the little squirt top inside, which skittered across the floor. "F**k!" </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Why are these simple everyday things so hard to do? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">No reason, they just are. I think it's nature's way of telling you something. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">It's a message I don't want to hear. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-73807942730156406602013-01-25T15:23:00.001-08:002013-01-25T17:59:40.445-08:00KEEPING THE WEIGHT OFF <span style="font-family: Verdana;">Why do people work really hard for months and months to lose weight and then turn right around and gain it all back? Some people say they have lost and gained hundreds of pounds over the years. Why is that? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Fattening back up has happened to everyone I've ever known who has lost a lot of weight. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">A year or two later, that flab is back, big time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One buddy of mine was built like a beach ball. Then he went into a program at the local university -- walking, lifting weights, eating right. After a few months, he looked great. Now a few years later, he looks like the same old beach ball. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Not a long-distance runner, but a long-distance muncher. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Recently, I experienced that myself. From March to November, </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I lost 15 lbs and 4" off my waist. From 174 lbs to 159 lbs, and from 44" to 39 1/2". I lost a protruding gut that looked like I had a basketball under my shirt. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I did it by counting calories for a few days and learning how to eat. My baseline is 2,000 calories. If I eat more, I gain. If I eat less, I lose. Simple as that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Find your own caloric baseline: </span><br />
<a href="http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm">http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">My first day, I ate normally and added up the damage. I had consumed 2995 calories. That included chocolate coated almonds, plus various snacks, including raisins and nuts, adding 570 calories that one day. I consumed almost 1000 calories over my baseline. No wonder I had a gut. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here is one way to find out how many calories are in the food you eat: </span><br />
<a href="http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_in_food.htm">http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calories_in_food.htm</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The second day, I watched what I ate and consumed only 1715 calories. I cut out the chocolate and the nuts. Also, in addition to eating fewer calories, I exercised (climbed stairs, rode my stationary bike, went to the gym) and burned off 840 calories, so my net intake was 875 calories. That was a huge difference. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here is a good way to estimate calories you burn during exercise: </span><br />
<a href="http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm">http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So for the next few months I worked out three times a week and kept my calorie intake down. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Cutting down the intake and increasing the out-go was easy. I didn't starve myself. I didn't sweat my brains out. I did not deny myself anything that I really wanted. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">It was a lot easier than I thought. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">In fact, it was the easiest thing I ever did. Especially easy since everyone thinks it is so hard. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I kept doing that, and the pounds came off. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I felt pretty good about it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />Then in December, for some reason, I started making different choices. I ate some ice cream, a quart and a half of Breyer's Rocky Road. My favorite. Yum. Tasted so very, very good. M and M's Peanuts. Delicious. A cheeseburger here and there. An extra beer or two. <br />
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I tried not to admit that I was gaining weight. I tried to ignore that possibility. I didn't want to think about it. I just wanted to enjoy the food. Then I noticed that my jeans were getting tight again. I was on the third hole in my belt, not the tightest one. So I started to think about it. What was I doing? <br />
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I finally figured it out: I was in denial. I just didn't want to face the truth. (Put me on a river boat in Egypt, for I am the king of de Nile.) <br />
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I was hoping somehow that the extra calories wouldn't matter. Hoping I could get away with it. Maybe somehow, magically, I would stay lean. <br />
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Well, guess what? I was gaining lard by the day, by the spoonful, by the pound. But I did not want to face it. <br />
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I think we are all like that. The road to hell is paved with you know what, the best of intentions. But intentions don't lose the weight or finish the job. <br />
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I don't know why we go into denial like that. I guess we want to avoid the unpleasant consequences of doing something that makes us feel good. We want to live it up tonight and not worry about tomorrow. <br />
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However, what we eat and drink today does matter. And it will matter tomorrow, and next week, and next year. Every single calorie matters, in or out. Yesterday, at the doctor's office, I was up to 164 lbs. On the road to Fat City. I had gained back 5 lbs. <br />
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It doesn't take much. All you need to do is eat 200-300 calories a day more than you burn up, and guess what, your weight goes up. (One pound = 3500 calories, on or off.) <br />
<br />So if I want to be thin, I have to face the facts. Calories do matter. In fact, they are the only thing that matters when gaining or losing weight. So back to eating 200-300 calories less than my baseline. <br />
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It's not easy, but it is a choice you make, every day, every time you face the food. Every time you think ice cream sounds good. Remember what you are choosing to do, spoon by spoon, gulp by gulp, each time you munch more than you need. Ask yourself: Fat or thin? Fat or thin? Fat or thin? <br />
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Do these choices matter? Yes, they do. They matter to me. <br />
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-- Roger <br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-26849249024456464782013-01-24T18:03:00.000-08:002013-02-20T14:47:07.727-08:00SLICING THE BACON <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think Kevin Bacon is a fine actor. He becomes the character, goes all the way. So I recorded the pilot of his new TV series, "The Following," thinking it had to be damn good. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Boy was I disappointed. Then I happened to read a big cover story in TV Guide (at the doctor's office) about "The Following." The magazine article talks about how bloody and brutal the show is, which is true, but they don't talk about the show's content. Or lack of content. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After all, isn't the point of drama to deliver some insight into human nature, some revelation that sheds light on the human condition? Shouldn't the drama be after some kind of truth? Shouldn't we learn something about ourselves? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Apparently not. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For me, the trouble with "The Following" is not so much the brutality, which is almost impossible to watch. How many slit throats and bodies covered in blood do you want to see? T</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">he problem is that all that bloodshed serves no purpose. Where is the drama? The insight? The revelation? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't mean a message. Samuel Goldwyn is supposed to have said, "If you want to send a message, use Western Union." (Today it would be a text or e-mail.) </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This new TV show almost leans toward meaning a couple of times. What is the price cops pay for dealing with all this horror? And how <em>do</em> they deal with it? The show starts to confront that question then shies away from it. Too heavy, I guess. We don't want to engage the intellect of the audience, do we? Why would we do that? We might strain their collective brain. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">For any kind of insight into cop life that I have seen, you have to go all the way back to early Joseph Wambaugh's novels like "The Choir Boys" and "The New Centurions." </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Those were great funny true books, full of insight into what it's like to be a cop and what that does to human nature. I remember one scene where two cops are dealing with a fatal car accident. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">A motorist's head has been severed. One poor woman pulls up and asks what happened. A cop holds up the severed head and makes a smart-ass remark. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Brutal, but funny in a macabre way. The brutality serves a purpose in the veteran hands of former cop Wambaugh. But not so in this new TV show. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The only purpose for the over-kill (so to speak) of brutality in "The Following" seems to be to convince us that the bad guys are really bad. They are evil and they are dangerous. Duh. I guess we couldn't figure that out with fewer bodies. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">These TV producers must think we are awfully thick-headed. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have we sunk to this? Do we have to see buckets of blood and rooms full of dead people to be entertained? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I sure hope not. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I still admire Kevin Bacon's work as an actor. But I don't know if I can keep watching the show. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br /><br /><div align="right" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright © 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-22958165770667893042013-01-12T09:52:00.000-08:002013-02-27T15:23:12.945-08:00GET IN SHAPE TO GET OLD <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I decided to blog about aging because nobody warns you. Nobody tells you what it's going to be like when you get old. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I'm 74 now, but I'm one of the lucky ones. I won the genetic lottery. People take me for 55, on a good day. I'm what they call "young-old." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When you are actually young, you don't look at an old person -- all wrinkly and hobbling around and groaning when they bend over to pick up something, having trouble getting up and down the stairs -- and say to yourself, that's gonna be me someday. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">We view old people as aliens, as if they came from another planet. But</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> guess what, young people, you are gonna get old some day. If you're lucky. It beats the hell out of the alternative. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Today, I want to talk about strength. I've been working out for 30 years. Yes, that's right, 30. And I'm not one of those people who <em>intends</em> to go to the gym someday. I actually do it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I've been active, a runner, body surfer, mountain biker, weight lifter, minor body builder, student of boxing and martial arts. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I used to mountain bike a 1,000-foot elevation gain two or three times a week. Plus ride my road bike 20-30 miles once a week. Plus lift weights and play tennis. My resting heart rate got down to 48, a good measure of cardiovascular fitness. When Mohammad Ali was heavyweight boxing world champion, his resting heart rate was 52. So I was in damn good shape. I was in my 50s. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">So I've been active, all right. And if I get weaker as I age, imagine what it's going to be like if you don't exercise</span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The most surprising thing is that your muscles feel just as strong as they ever did, but things that were easy are now difficult. Things that were difficult are sometimes impossible. I especially notice it in my hands. I have three types of jar opening tools in my kitchen. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">When I'm with my grandsons, if I can't open a jar, I hand it to Jake or Eric and pop, it comes right off in their little hands. They are 10 and 11 years old. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I may have been strong once, but not any more. I would bet that's gonna happen to you, too. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">There is no point in whining around about it. Get used to it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">One of my physical trainers, John O'Brien, told me one time, "Something's gonna get you some day, and you want to be in the best shape you can when it happens." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Amen to that. So I keep working out, but lighter and lighter, with less and less intensity, as I get older. I get weaker, but I fight against it. Trying to stave off the inevitable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">That's the only thing you can do. You can't afford to quit. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">NEXT: The Age of Pain. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright © 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-32172871352691876892013-01-05T11:03:00.000-08:002013-01-05T11:03:18.159-08:00SYMPATHY FOR THE CRAZIES <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I just read a profile of former U.S. Congressman and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Allen B. West of Florida. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">West is a notorious right-wing crazy. He sees bogeymen in every closet, behind every tree and under every bed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">People like West--and my former friend Doug--are guilty of stereotyping and over-generalizing. They live in a fantasy world of their own making. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">It is very weird that they don't see objective reality. As someone once said, "We don't see the world the way it is, but the way we are." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">This is extremely true of Allen West and other right-wing nuts. My former friend Doug called the Koran "a terrorist manual." He believed there were hundreds of secret terrorist cells across the USA, and they were going to launch coordinated attacks to kill thousands of Americans, all at once, say on Super Bowl Sunday or some other such time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Of course, this has not happened. I doubt if that has dampened his ardor. He thought liberals were dangerous because we didn't see the danger all around us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I used to make fun of him. There goes a terrorist now. Oh, wait, it's just the mailman. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Doug was scared to death of anyone who didn't look like him and speak like him. He was scared of The Other. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">So is Allen West. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">I have been trying to develop some sympathy for people like West. But that is hard to do. So many of the nation's mistakes have been based on such fear fantasies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The U.S. war in Vietnam and the U.S. invasion of Iraq were based on paranoid fantasies. Oh, the communists are going to take over the world. Oh, we're going to see a "mushroom cloud" over Washington, D.C., if we don't invade Iraq. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Now Vietnam is our trading partner and we have left behind billions of wasted dollars and thousands of wasted lives after accomplishing nothing in Iraq. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Fear has driven us to destroy parts of the world and parts of ourselves. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">It is amazing how much destruction these paranoid fantasies have caused. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">No doubt there are real threats out there. A few, not as many as the fear mongers imagine. So let's find them. Let's qualify our targets, as military people say. But let's focus on real threats, not imaginary ones. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright
© 2013, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-2731480345103561732012-12-25T18:17:00.000-08:002013-04-01T15:01:08.833-07:00MAKE THE AUDIENCE CARE <span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tried to watch two movies today. Couldn't stand either one. They had the same problem: Failed to make the audience give a damn. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">I think movies and stories are all about caring. The reader or audience has to give two hoots and a holler about the story and the characters, who in turn have to care about something that is hugely important to them. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">They have to give enough of a damn about something or someone to take a great, huge, scary emotional or physical risk. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Otherwise we don't have a story. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">Today's movies took two different approaches. "The Stratosphere Girl," is about a 15-year-old budding cartoonist who has a boring life. She needs to get away, and when I watched it, so did I. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It is very hard to show a character who is bored without boring the audience to tears. I lasted about 10 minutes. I probably didn't get to the good part, if there was one. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">The other movie, "Sleepless Night," is a French thriller that plunges us into action right away. Two guys are pulling an armed robbery. Guns. Speed. Chase. Shoot-out. Bang-bang. A knife. Slice, cut, blood. Foot chase. Bag of cocaine. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">You get the idea. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">But who cares? Not me. These two guys don't seem to care about anything except the bag of cocaine, which has no emotional resonance for me. For one thing, it is a big fat cliche. (The filmmakers needed a MacGuffin, and that was easy, I guess.) </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">Later, they show one of these thugs dealing with his teenage son, whom he loves very much. That is supposed to make us care. But it does not. We have already seen him shooting at people. So I am not going to care about him. It's too late. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">I look back at my list of favorite movies and realize they all start with the main characters caring about something very much. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">"The Godfather" starts with the wedding scene. The old man grants favors on the day his daughter gets married. He has to. He cares about the Sicilian tradition, and about his daughter, and his god-son, and so on. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">We see his power, and we also see his sense of honor, and his caring. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">"Silence of the Lambs" starts with Clarice Starling working out on the FBI obstacle course. She wants to become an agent in the worst possible way. She cares about her work, and about stopping the killer, "Buffalo Bill." She will take any chance, any risk, to get the job done. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Her caring makes us care about her. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">When you write a story, show that your characters give a damn about something that is so important to them that they will take a huge risk for it. It can be an emotional or physical risk, or both. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">You have to care about it, and so do your characters. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Otherwise, we won't give two hoots and a pile of horse dung. If they don't care, we won't care. And there goes your story, and quite possibly your career. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="color: black;">Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-23072088622874149222012-12-22T16:43:00.000-08:002013-02-20T14:47:07.804-08:00THROW THE LONG BALL <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For years I tried to give my novel writing students, both in private workshops and at various colleges, this advice: Don't seek success by imitating some famous writer you admire. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">We already have a Dean Koontz, an Elmore Leonard, a Lee Child, a John Grisham. And in most cases one is enough, sometimes more than enough. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Not that you can't learn from them. You can. But you should also learn from the classics, the great literature of the past. I was talking to my friend Harry today, and he said that too many young writers today have not learned from Sophocles and the ancient Greeks, from Shakespeare, Faulkner, Hemingway, or Melville. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">It is true. Learn from the masters, but don't try to <em>become</em> them. They did what they did better than anyone. You are not likely to do it better. We don't need another "Short Life Of Francis Macomber" or another "Hamlet." </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">But what you can do better than anyone is be yourself. Use your own life and experience as material. Faulkner found enough material in Oxford, Mississippi, to become one of the world's great writers. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">If you want to be successful, dig deeply into your soul and your psyche and your experience, and don't be afraid to make a fool of yourself. I had an actor friend who said that was the most important thing. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Be vulnerable. Don't try to be strong and tough and famous like someone you admire. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here is a great little story about how a writer-director-actor named Mark Duplass and his brother made a mistake trying to make a movie like "Rocky": </span><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/12/09/mark-duplass-on-why-his-sports-movie-was-a-big-mistake.html">http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/12/09/mark-duplass-on-why-his-sports-movie-was-a-big-mistake.html</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They found success by making a short film about one of them trying to perfect the outgoing message on his cell phone's voice mail. It cost $3 to make and launched their careers. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Trying to imitate John Grisham or Sylvester Stallone, I think, is a way to avoid taking chances, and that is not the way to succeed. You have to strike out on your own, find your own material, your own themes, your own stories, and your own voice. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Being a new quarterback calling your own plays may scare the hell out of you, but that is OK. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sometimes, you gotta throw the long ball, to continue the football metaphor. Even if you're a rookie. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><br /><div align="right" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br /><br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-61095134479624884972012-09-29T17:49:00.000-07:002013-02-20T14:47:07.822-08:00MORE FICTION B.S. <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A new review, of a book I just tried to read: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">THE NERUDA CASE – by Roberto Ampuero </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">(2012, Riverhead Books, Penguin Group) </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">9/29/2012 </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">I saw this recommended somewhere and tried to read it. But I found it very confusing. At the same time, I started rereading “Seabiscuit” by Laura Hillenbrand and her writing is a thousand times better, more engaging and clearer. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">I can’t read this Ampuero stuff. I can’t tell where we are or what is going on. I found the sentences convoluted and confusing from the get-go. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">The beginning: </span><br /> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">“What could be bothering the partners of Almagro, Ruggierio & Associates, who had asked him to appear at their headquarters in such a hurry?” <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">What? Why not just say they called him and they were on the rag? </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Even the names are boring. The sentence is long and wordy. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">I managed to wade through the first chapter, but then I got lost again. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Slow, boring and complicated. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Not my kind of stuff. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">Where did this guy learn to write, in a law firm? <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">His purpose seems to be to obfuscate. To bore. To cloud the mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">He's a typical acadmeic. Required to publish, whether his work is any good or not. You might know he teaches at a university and is Chile’s ambassador to Mexico. This writing is sad. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> -- Roger </span><br /><br /><div align="right" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-24623044725303438512012-09-18T09:52:00.000-07:002013-02-20T14:47:07.841-08:00GOOD THRILLERS? REALLY? <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love a good thriller. I can't think of one, off hand, but I do love the <em>idea</em> of one. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">When I was young, I read one whole Robert Ludlum book, a mechanistic thriller with lots of twists and turns and gut wrenching action. When I got to the end--I stayed up all night to finish it--I was exhausted, wrung out, sweaty and tired in a moral and emotional sense. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Then I found out that I could get the same effect, from another one of Ludlum's novels, by reading the first chapter, then skipping ahead to read one anywhere in the middle, and then reading the last chapter. And guess what. That took a helluva lot less time. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I find most "thrillers" unbearably boring. Lee Child, Dean Koontz, James Patterson, etcetera, etcetera. Most are a big fat snore, to me. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here are my notes about Lee Child's novel "Persuader," published in 2003. </span><br /><br /><u><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sunday, July 04, 2010 <o:p></o:p></span></u><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The first chapter isn’t bad, a fairly exciting action scene, although it doesn’t make complete sense. The last line of Chapter One is startling and turns the story on its head. It’s great, in a way. The second chapter explains why Jack Reacher was there, and then it gets way too complicated and repetitious for me. A paragraph or two of back-story would suffice. The narrative breaks two of the rules I tell my students: Don’t repeat, and don’t explain. The worst thing you can do is go through the planning of an action with the reader and then go through the action itself. The only time that works is when the action goes horribly wrong. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here, the novel goes through the action and then through an endless explanation in flashback. It is so very, very boring. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I don’t care about any of this, not the characters, not the story, not the set-up, not the crime family, not the long-lost dead guy. Jack Reacher is a big fat cliché: ex-Army, highly trained with guns, other weapons, blah-blah-blah. Who cares? I ran out of gas on Page 38. I don’t know why anyone would read any farther. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> I tried to go back and finish Ch. 2. I sped-read it and when I finally staggered to the end of the chapter I was exhausted. Done. No more for me. I just didn’t care. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The writer’s main job is to make the reader care<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>about what is going on, about the characters and the story. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The only person I could come close to caring about in this novel was the kid who was “kidnapped” and he was barely there. Just a few sentences, as I recall.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">## </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p>I have this friend Jack, who is a Renaissance man: engineer, avid reader, a graduate of CalTech. A man of many moving parts. I often use him as a literary scout and often read whatever he recommends. </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p>So I called him on the phone to talk about Lee Child and the tough-guy hero Jack Reacher. My question: Why would anyone <u>enjoy</u> this crap? </o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;"><u><span style="font-family: Verdana;">JACK</span></u><span style="font-family: Verdana;">: It's all psychological. Some people need to feel powerful and even omnipotent, and these narratives feed that need. Like James Bond. <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>RA: The second chapter does show that the idiot Jack Reacher is in control. But that does not interest me. I’m more interested in what happens when you let go, when you lose control. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Back to my own notes: <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> Another insight: M<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">ediocre writers attract mediocre readers. </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Escapist readers just want to get away from their humdrum lives</span>. That explains why mediocre writers, like Lee Child, attract a lot of readers, who must have boring jobs and boring families and live boring lives. They are probably grinding along in their routines and feel just barely alive. Jack Reacher and his "adventures" must bring them to life. Sort of. </span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Child writes in a familiar genre: macho-psycho-stupid fantasy fiction. I don’t care about all that shoot-em-up stuff. Boom-boom, bang-bang, you’re all dead. Who the hell cares? <o:p></o:p></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But a lot of people do care. I don't begrudge them their escape. But I do wish they liked more depth, more character development, and better writing. Then they might like my stuff. At least that's what I tell myself. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span></div><div align="right" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></div><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-86224078594786324312012-09-03T21:00:00.000-07:002013-02-20T14:47:07.853-08:00 A SKINNIER ME <span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been trying to lose weight, and winning the battle of the bulge. <span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As you know if you've been following this blog. </span></span></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I started out at 174 lbs on March 28. Today I cracked 160. Am at 159 1/2. So far, so good. Started with a 44-inch waist and am at 40" today, around the middle, the largest part. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">The secret is simple: calories. It doesn't matter what you eat, it's how many calories. Twice in the last week, I've had ice cream, probably the most caloric food you can eat. I drink an occasional beer. I had two cookies the other day. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">But I don't eat huge plates of food that I don't need. I don't eat ten cookies in one day or eat a quart of ice cream in one sitting. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I try to stay under my baseline, which is 2,000 calories a day. (See my earlier posts.) And I stay active, working out every other day, most of the time -- 30 minutes cardio plus lifting weights. Moderately. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I don't kill myself at working out, and I don't starve myself. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">But it's really simple. I didn't read any books, and I didn't join any support groups. I counted calories for a few days and learned how to eat, and how not to eat. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I try to eat foods that are low in fat and low in calories. I cut way down on the olive oil. I almost never eat butter. I eat Go Lean cereal with non-fat milk. I boil my eggs rather than fry them. I eat lean meat, soups, dry toast. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I find all this very satisfying. I often skip the ice cream or other desert. It's more important to me to lose weight. I eat as much as I need, not as much as I want. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Maybe this wouldn't work for everyone, but it sure is working for me. </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></span><br /><span class="userContent"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span></span><br /><span class="userContent"> </span><br /><div align="right" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-8157204508739451432012-09-01T08:40:00.002-07:002012-10-14T23:24:03.912-07:00THE GOOD REPUBLICANS When I was a child, I was surrounded by Republicans. That seems scary now, but back then it seemed like a good thing. <br />
<br />
My father was a lawyer, and I grew up around judges, lawyers, and politicians. Most of them were proud members of the GOP. We even went to tea at the governor's mansion once, when I was about eight years old. (That was in Topeka, Kansas. I grew up in Wichita and was born in 1938.) <br />
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Back then, Republicans seemed to be the soul of good values: honesty, integrity, self-reliance, hard work, respect for others and for yourself. Respect for flag and country. Early to bed, early to rise. Always tell the truth. Always keep your word. Build trust and be worthy of that trust. <br />
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Those are damn good values.<br />
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Sad to say, today's Republican leaders are not like that. They pretend to be. They talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk. <br />
<br />
They lie and cheat every chance they get. I wouldn't trust Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan with one dime of the family money or with one minute of my grandkids' future. <br />
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Where did the GOP go wrong? I trace it back to President Richard M. Nixon. Tricky Dick. After the L.A. Times editorial board interviewed him during a presidential campaign, one editor turned to another and said something like, "After you shake his hand, you have to look at your wrist to make sure you still have your watch." <br />
<br />
Nixon famously tried to use the Internal Revenue Service to harass and intimidate his political enemies. He did some good things--his trip to China, for one. But he was the soul of dishonesty and deceit. <br />
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The last good Republican president was Dwight David Eisenhower, I do believe. And even he had a terrible policy toward Latin America, supporting brutal dictators for the sake of profit. <br />
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So it is up to the Democrats to protect and defend and embody the values I admire. Unfortunately, they have not always done a good job of that either. But at least they do a better job. They get my vote, most of the time. <br />
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Twice in my life, I have voted for Republicans: California state Senator Marian Bergeson and Mayor John V. Lindsay of New York. I don't see leaders like them in today's GOP. Sad to say. <br />
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What happened to the good Republicans? Where did they go? How did they get so corrupt? <br />
<br />
The GOP's integrity has melted away, like the glaciers and Arctic sea ice that are rapidly disappearing, caused by the global warming that the Republicans deny. <br />
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May God save us, if there is a God. The Republicans sure as hell won't. <br />
<br />
-- Roger <br />
<br />
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<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright
© 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-52862104803711196822012-08-30T07:44:00.004-07:002012-08-30T07:45:25.613-07:00NO RESPECT Why do Republicans lie so much? Do they have no respect for the truth? Do they have no respect for the American people? <br />
<br />
I just read the Salon magazine article about Paul Ryan's GOP Convention speech: <br />
<a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/08/30/paul_ryans_brazen_lies/">http://www.salon.com/2012/08/30/paul_ryans_brazen_lies/</a><br />
<br />
Here are links to two articles about Mitt Romney's lies: <br />
<a href="http://marketplayground.com/2012/08/29/robert-reich-how-mitt-romney-keeps-lying/">http://marketplayground.com/2012/08/29/robert-reich-how-mitt-romney-keeps-lying/</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/08/29/mitt-romney-tells-533-lies-in-30-weeks-steve-benen-documents-them/">http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/08/29/mitt-romney-tells-533-lies-in-30-weeks-steve-benen-documents-them/</a><br />
<br />
How can they expect people to vote for them when they lie so much? Here is a link to PolitiFact, a good fact-checking site: <br />
<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/">http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/</a><br />
<br />
Condoleeza Rice famously lied about Iraq to persuade Americans to support the Bush invasion. She said there might be a "mushroom cloud" over Washington, D.C., if we didn't take out Saddam Hussein. What a crock of GOP poop. <br />
<br />
Now here she was this week addressing the GOP Convention as a Republican heroine: <br />
<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/30/the-wars-condoleezza-rice-john-mccain-left-out-of-their-rnc-speeches.html">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/30/the-wars-condoleezza-rice-john-mccain-left-out-of-their-rnc-speeches.html</a><br />
<br />
My God. What is the world coming to? <br />
<br />
There is an old saying: You can't trust a liar to tell you the time of day. And my God. These liars want to lead the country! <br />
<br />
When George W. Bush was president, the joke was, how did you tell when he was lying? His lips were moving. <br />
<br />
Do they really think the American people are that stupid? <br />
<br />
The weird thing to me is that the GOP is the party that keeps talking about American exceptionalism. How can we take pride in our country when leaders of a major political party lie all the time? <br />
<br />
Do they want us to believe that America is great <em>because</em> of these lies? Are they just trying to hoodwink the people? Do they think we can't handle the truth? Or don't they want us to know the truth? <br />
<br />
The Republicans amaze me. I was raised to think that people who lie and cheat and steal are the same as criminals. Perhaps these big-time liars should be put in jail. If these GOP leaders got a week in jail for every lie they told, they'd be in jail for the rest of their lives. <br />
<br />
Maybe that is where they belong. <br />
<br />
-- Roger <br />
<br />
<div align="right" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright
© 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-12724098739505003822012-08-11T10:46:00.000-07:002012-08-11T10:46:49.652-07:00ROMNEY BETS ON THE RIGHTSome people are criticizing Mitt Romney's choice of right-wing congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. <br />
<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/features/2012/paul-ryan-vp-pick-reactions-and-rebuttals.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet">http://www.thedailybeast.com/features/2012/paul-ryan-vp-pick-reactions-and-rebuttals.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet</a><br />
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They think this choice is as bad as John McCain choosing Sarah Palin in 2008. <br />
<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/michael-tomasky-on-romney-s-stunning-terrible-choice-of-ryan-for-vp.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet">http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/michael-tomasky-on-romney-s-stunning-terrible-choice-of-ryan-for-vp.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet</a><br />
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But I think they are wrong. I think Romney is showing his true colors. He will do anything to win, and he thinks the country is leaning far to the right. <br />
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Good for him. Now we have a clear choice. <br />
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Ryan is guilty of magical thinking, that if we reduce government aid and force everyone to live on what they or their family can earn, in this winner-take-all economy, the country will be better off. <br />
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Well, guess what. It won't be. <br />
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We will have more corporate control, more power in the hands of the rich, and more successful attempts by the government and big business to screw the poor and the middle class. <br />
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Do you want to live by this fantasy, under this kind of magical thinking? Do you want to rely on the fantasies of right-wing crazies? <br />
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I don't. I hope the American people don't either. <br />
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But don't be too sure. The masses actually elected George W. Bush the second time he ran, which was in 2004. If they were stupid enough then, they can be stupid enough again. <br />
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-- Roger <br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;">Copyright
© 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-53371482379317433032012-08-10T22:39:00.000-07:002013-04-01T15:08:29.774-07:00THE NEW BOURNE B.S.<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I saw the new Jason Bourne movie, "The Bourne Legacy," on its opening day, Friday, Aug. 10, and I was sorry. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">What a load of hokum. All razzle-dazzle with no real story, no character development, no real movie. It's as if they spliced a lot of action sequences together with transition scenes that don't make any sense. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Some of the action sequences seem great until you think about them. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I kept thinking to myself, over and over, Why are the characters doing this? What does this mean? And, most often: Huh? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">Why is our hero in the Alaska wilderness? It's a training area. Is this a training exercise? No, that would make too much sense. Wait, he's not supposed to be there. But then... duh... why is he there? </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">The black ops agency is killing its own people. Why is that? It makes absolutely no sense. Does anyone care if it makes no sense? Does anyone read these scripts before these movies are shot? </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">How does our hero find the hot scientist babe? If the bad guys are there to kill her, why don't they just go ahead and kill her? Why try to fool her first? Or are they really trying to fool the audience? Ya think? </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our hero and the hot babe are on the run--a mad, scrambling, crazy run--away from the government bad guys (the government is always the enemy in these movies, for some reason) and they just happen to have a laptop computer with them? Huh? WTF? How did that happen? </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">(This movie treats the audience like morons, in the same way the black ops agency treats its field agents like morons.) </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">Wait, our hero had a low IQ, and now he's brilliant? How in hell does that work? Where do we get that pill? </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">What is all this hokum about a virus and, I guess, genetic engineering? The movie has some 'splainin' to do. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Most of it is confusing, silly and pointless. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana;">I did like a few scenes, and I do like going to the movies. But Lord, this is a load of crap. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">Check your brain at the door. And don't ask too many questions. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">These Bourne movies have gotten worse each time. The first one is pretty good, one of my favorite action films. Then they go downhill. Why is that? I think these movies are made to be stupid, for a younger and dumber audience. For an audience that is incapable of critical thinking. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">In Hollywood, big dollars don't go with high IQs. The big studios, which have big bucks to invest in a blockbuster movie, don't care about intelligence or quality. They care about one thing: money. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So the movies get bigger and dumber. And so do the audiences. Hooray.</span> </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">Welcome to the Big Brainless Blockbuster. </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">-- Roger </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="color: black;">Copyright © 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-295054307840516093.post-66224763196507031532012-08-09T09:43:00.001-07:002012-08-09T09:43:31.499-07:00BLOOD MONEY & MITTAt first I thought this was a joke: <br />
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-death-squads-bain_n_1710133.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-death-squads-bain_n_1710133.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular</a><br />
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But it isn't. Turns out Mitt Romney started Bain Capital with blood money from Central America. <br />
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Sad. <br />
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What won't Mitt do for money? <br />
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-- Roger <br />
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© 2012, Roger R. Angle <o:p></o:p></span></div>Roger R. Anglehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16000919418744703419noreply@blogger.com0