patricia

Well that's actually part of the appeal: watching an actor who so fucked up his career getting a second chance and doing something with it. One can't help but note the parallels between Roarke and his character. And I have to add, his character - Ram - has an incredibly tender and endearing side to him. Without giving much away, I loved the scenes of him playing with the kids and working the deli counter. It's quite a fearless performance. I just watched The Pope Of Greenwich Village again and Mickey Rourke has that thing that makes you watch him. He still has it and surprisingly he is just as compelling now as he was at the beginning of his career. I strongly recommend The Wrestler to see a really good story with, I think, one of the few who could embody Ram and be believable. This is not a mercy job given to Rourke because he is down and out. This is great casting.

Thank you Alexander. I really want to see Mickey Rourke succeed. He showed such promise at the beginning of his career. Watched Angel Heart again last night and couldn't help but wonder what the hell happened to him? Thank you again. The Wrestler is playing here and all I need now is to convince my son-in-law to go with me.

Thank you so much, Rachel, Paul, FFA and H Ghost. Yes, it was a good day. I just heard from my other daughter. So, both remembered time passing.

Thank you for remembering my birthday, guys!! My daughter took me to see the Marilyn Monroe exhibit which is at a museum now, and then, to lunch. And the day isn't over yet. The years keep coming and I'm powerless to stop them.

I manned the stove on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, with my daughter and son-in-law sharing both with my husband and me. Went well, although cooking more than a couple of things at the same time almost paralyzes me. But, everything was ready on timel and everybody enjoyed themselves. Chrismas morning we all opened out gifts and with a snag or two, that went well too. Everybody seemed pleased. The one sour note was a set of knives that my daughter had hinted for that I gave her. The contents had been switched by somebody in the store and she ended up with some cheap serratedblade knives instead of the 16 piece two-man Henkel's that I thought I had given her. INFURIATING. My son-in-law is now faced with the task of attempting to exchange them with no receipt. Grrr!! On a brighter note, I received a new camera, a Canon EOS Rebel XS 1000D, my first digital. I have been using a Canon AE1 for thirty years and am very apprehensive. I also received a new turntable that converts vinyl to CDs, though I haven't set it up yet. I'll have to move my current one out of my office and figure out the new one. Then the usual bath stuff, PJs, chocolate..........................you know. My daughter and son-in-law did Christmas dinner, their first since they got married this past August. All of us ate WAY too much, as is usual this time of year. Doubling the time on the treadmill as penance.

So sad. At least for the last while of Heathcliff's life he knew he was loved. RIP Heathcliff.

Makes you wonder how many westerners with aesthetically beautiful Chinese characters tattooed on the napes of their necks actually know for sure what they mean. AND, those tattooes are permanent!!

Anthony Perkins - A Haunted Life by Ronald Bergen. I have been curious about Perkins for years. He drifted in and out of attention after "Psycho", which he never quite escaped. More interesting than I thought it would be.

The stuff I read when I was a kid ranged from Robert Louis Stevenson to Booth Tarkington, to the Nancy Drew mysteries, to the Readers Digest condensed books that used to come regularly. Everything on my parents' estensive bookshelves was available to me though, with no restrictions, and as I got older, into my early teens, I branched into F. Marion Crawford, A.E.W. Mason, Dashiell Hammett and Earl Stanley Gardner, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, Mickey Spillane, and all kinds of mysteries, biographies and non-fiction. Clearly, we had no TV.

Dueling Banjos, the soundtrack from "Deliverance." with extra stuff performed by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel. Warner Bros. label. I had forgotten that I have this. Every once in a while, I likes me some banjo music.

King of the Delta Blues Singers - Vol 2- Robert Johnson - Columbia

All good points, Allen. BUT I doubt that the last one will get him an appeal, much less a re-trial. The "race card" was what got the jury nullification in his murder trial. I don't think that the judge will let herself be played by that the way so many were after he was aquitted for murder. An interesting point that Vincent Bugliosi made after the first trial was that OJ had spent years ingratiating himself with the old, rich, white guys, because it was important to his personal image. He had practically abandoned his roots.................until he needed his blackness as a reason that he was being "discriminated" against. It worked then. But I don't think it will work now. In fact, most of the people I talk to think the result of this latest escapade is KARMA. They really don't care if he knowingly did all the stuff he was convicted of doing. Not fair. But hey........................................what goes around comes around.

I actually liked The Man Who Wasn't There because it was a total departure from what the Cohens usually do. I thought it was as close to film noir as modern movies get. Beautiful black and white filming, rare these days. Billy Bob Thornton was particularly good. It lost me a little at the end, but otherwise, remarkable. Blood Simple set the bar quite high for me when it comes to innovative plots and I've been an admirer of their work from the first. Miller's Crossing is another favourite. When I saw No Country For Old Men, I was somewhat disappointed. I think that because I had just seen Tommy Lee Jones in In The Valley Of Elah I couldn't get with the character he played in this one, so not his fault.

She set a new world record of 16' 6 3/4", which is spectacular but nowhere near eighteen feet. Thanks for doing the CORRECT conversion, Cali. I was so excited that I was thinking forth and back. OOPS. I have no excuse. But, that was the most amazing vault I, or anyone else has ever seen. She won gold, then went on to break the world record. WOW!!

I agree with you. I was just mesmerized by the perfection, IMO, of the Russian pole-vaulter, to MY eye. The proportions of each aspect were, to MY eye, perfect. I know that it takes training and tremendous dedication to every detail to produce the physiques that we see and I am not saying that some athletes are not perfect for their sport, or from an artistic perspective. I thought though that the work that obviously went into developing the over-sized upper bodies of some of the runners seemed out of balance to my eye. It would seem to me that the lower body and legs would be the area in which strength and endurance training would be concentrated, for their sport. Why would their upper body be disproportionately larger.

I don't agree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and that's coming from an artist's point of view. OK. Then we agree to disagree. I speak only from a still-life photography point of view.

That is the biggest reason I watch swimmers, divers and runners. They have perfect bodies, without the freakishly big shoulders, for the most part. Did anyone see the Russian woman pole-vaulter clear EIGHTEEN FEET. Apart from already having gold, she broke the standing Olympic record, then went on to beat the World Record. I mention this, partly because the vault is spectacular and partly because she has the most perfect body I have ever seen, from a purely aesthetic point of view. Those who saw her vault I think will agree with me. She is fairly tall, slim but not skinny, long-waisted, nice bosom, not pendulous, or flat, evenly muscled, with not an ounce of extra fat anywhere. Someone should sculpt her.

The Most Vol. IV. Roulette-Birdland label. Side 1 Count Basie Johnny Smith Maynard Ferguson Machito Lambert Hendricks, Ross and Basie Side 2 Sarah Vaughan John Handy Joe Williams Billy Eckstine Basie, Williams

Memorial Album - Lee Morgan - Blue Note. Nice.

Tom, I think I mentioned it earlier, but labels almost never suffer from my cleaning the record under running hot water. The noteable exception, so far, are some Blue Notes. I don't know for sure what the labels are made of, but they stand up really well. At first I thought they might peel off, but they don't. WHEW.

For some reason that reminded me of women who hang on to their wedding dress in case their daughter wants to wear it when she gets married, when you don't even have a daughter yet. Having said that, it was interesting that my daughter is getting married next week. When she was picking out music for the event she was somewhat impressed that I had one of the selections Stand By Me by Ben E. King on a 45. I was cool to her.....................for a second.

Well guys, I bow to your superior knowledge. I don't use soap because I was told by my jazz mentor, a collector for as long as anyone, that I shouldn't, because of the possible filming and the inevitable dust-catching that causes, even if you rinse thoroughly. He has a huge collection, every album pristine, in it's cover and stored, on it's edge, alphabetically. I felt strangely priviledged when I was allowed to peruse them and actually touch them. Normally that carries the death penalty, I think. As for the toothbrush, I still say be careful. I do use a super-soft baby toothbrush on stubborn hunks of crud, though I don't buy records that are really dirty, or have visible damage like scratches. I suppose that the really dirty ones could be rejuvenated by the afore-mentioned cleaning. But, after they are clean, more often than not, only then does the damage become evident. You can't fix actual damage to the record. That may not be a problem if you never intend to play the record. I don't buy collector records, no matter how rare, if I can't listen to them.

Soap and water will do the job, and will not harm the record. Liquid dishwashing detergent and a soapy sponge are all you need. Lather up both sides of the record with the soapy sponge, moving the sponge is circular motions all around the label, then rinse with lukewarm running water, making sure you have rinsed off all of the soap. Let dry in a dish rack, and after about a half hour, dry the beads of water with a paper towel. 99% of the time this is all you need to do. If there are still patches of grime, you may need to scrub those areas more vigorously. An old toothbrush with liquid detergent applied directly will do the job, and again, it will not harm the record. Careful about using soap. And brushing is chancy unless you use a super-soft toothbrush and only if you have visible chunks of crud. Otherwise.............no. I've found that hottish running water, getting it really wet, followed by laying the record on a clean dishtowel and gently sponging the grooves with a paper towel works quite well. Oddly, it's rare that the label smears, although Blue Notes sometimes do. The idea is to remove the dirt. The water alone will do that, with the gentle sponging. If you use soap, of any kind, you run the risk of leaving a film on the record. There are also record-cleaning devices available. The one I have is an ORBITRAC 2, which works quite well. But, it doesn't, IMO, do any more than the previously mentioned method does. You can't fix scratches or other imperfections or especially damage to your record. They are relegated to coasters........................or trash. Sorry, but.............

Archive Of Jazz Volume 16. BYG label. Copious cover notes....................in French. Side 1 Jack Teagarden - Terrific interpretation of one of my very favourites, St. James Infirmary. Teagarden was not just a fine musician, but had a good voice as well. This session had Dave Tough, someone who I have always admired, on drums. Side 2 Pee Wee Russell. This album included Max Kaminsky, Dicky Wells, al Gold, James P. Johnson, Freddie Green, and Wellman Braud, with Zutty Singleton on the drums. Great Dixieland. Love it.

Plenty of healthy exercise getting up to turn them over MG Indeed. I used to have a record-player with a tall adaptor for 45s that you could stack half a dozen at a time, cutting down on the inconvenience. The down side of course was that it does the records no good to plunk down on another one, constantly. That is probably one of the reasons that 45s are hardly ever mint, the other being that, at least in my experience, they were not treated with reverence by the kids who had them.