Archive for the ‘Hollywood’ Category
March 19, 2016
A brilliant sun is beginning to set over the Catskills as I ride north on the train. There is a great swath of sunlit river streaming straight toward the train as we crawl north.
There might be snow this weekend; a nor’easter may be storming our way though the forecast for Claverack doesn’t seem to indicate snow. It will be what it will be…
I am headed down to the city on Monday so I can sit in on the taping of Howard Bloom’s podcast, “Howard Bloom Saves The Universe.” [Available on iTunes.] Then a couple of meetings on Tuesday, a lunch on Wednesday and then I’ll race back to the country.
Easter Sunday is in front of me and I’m doing the brunch after Mass. I am beginning to think the General in me will need to come out. With moderation, of course…
While I have been doing my meetings in New York, the Belgian police have been conducting raids, which netted one of the prime suspects in last fall’s Paris attacks, Salah Abdesalam. It may be an intelligence coup. Other suspects also have been detained, some for helping him.
The EU has struck a deal with Turkey to return refugees to them while Greece, a bankrupt country, is on the verge of being a refugee prison. Would this be or not be a good time for an American to go to Greece? I love the country and would like to visit.
The Hudson is now steel grey and there is pink in the sunset. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.” Pink? Probably good…
Mitt Romney has said he is supporting Ted Cruz. Has it come to this?
Merrick Garland made some rounds on the Hill today while the Republicans say, with absolutism, they will not consider him. Ah, love gridlock… So now that Congress in in recess the fight is going to the home front.
It’s my understanding Georgia has passed a religious freedom bill, which is interpreted by many to be anti-gay.
The NFL as in the National Football League, has said that this might impact their plans to have the Superbowl in Georgia. Unintended consequences…
The markets have finally caught up with where they were at the end of last year but more to be thought of about where the markets are. Are things good again or not? The reports in the press seem divided.
Dark has descended on the trip. We are now headed toward Hudson. The evening progresses. When I am off the train, I’ll head to the Red Dot for a bite to eat and then home.
My bathroom is being repainted and from the pictures I’ve seen looks quite wonderful. Tomorrow I am meeting young Nick to pick up a new sink and faucet while at the same time picking out new appliances for the kitchen.
Now that I am living more at the cottage than anywhere else I would like it to be more me than it is now.
It is what we all want, our homes to represent ourselves.
Home is something I have thought about all my life, a looking for home. The cottage is the most I have ever felt at home and I am so grateful I have found that place.
The world will roar and the political battles will be fought and at the end, I will be at home, in the cottage, looking over the creek while the world plays itself out.
Tags:Amtrak, Belgian Police, Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Hudson, Hudson River, Iran, IS, Markets, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, NFL, NFL and Georgia, Obama, Putin, Red Dot, Salah Abdesalam, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Greene County New York, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Howard Bloom, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
March 16, 2016
The Hudson River is nearly mirror still as I rumble south on the train, into New York for a visit to my gastroenterologist for a [ugh] colonoscopy, a follow-up to my stay in the hospital last month.
The morning was full of news about the primaries. Trump, as had been expected, trounced Marco Rubio in his home state of Florida and Rubio, also as expected, withdrew from the race.
Bernie Sanders is wondering about what next as Hillary Clinton handily beat him in Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina and, of course, Florida. It is looking like she eked out a win in Missouri, beating Bernie by a mere 1500 votes the last time I looked.
Kasich took his home state of Ohio so he is still playing the Republican game of musical chairs.
53% of Americans would choose Trump to be the Republican nominee. 61% don’t like him. Go figure.
Trump is preening in his victories, winning everywhere but Ohio. He claims there will be riots if the Republican Party denies him the nomination. Even in victory he summons images of violence.
While there will likely not be physical violence, there will be much name calling and shouting now that Obama has nominated Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Scalia’s death. Republicans have vowed not to move on the matter until there is another President, keeping their fingers crossed a Republican will occupy the White House.
Congressional chaos…
In the streets of DC and its environs there was another piece of chaos on the streets. After two electrical fires within the last year, the new head of the Metro ordered it shut down for twenty-four hours while they inspect it to ensure it is safe.
Having once lived in DC, I can only imagine what the day was like and be grateful I wasn’t there. It’s how I usually get around DC.
Also, the Fed is being dovish about raising rates. The dollar falls, gold rises as do the markets, modestly.
In Brussels, an Algerian, illegally in the country, was killed in a raid by police. At least two others were detained; an Islamic flag was found with them. Belgian police are promising more raids.
In Nigeria, two female suicide bombers killed twenty-four at a mosque. A bomb placed on a bus in Pakistan killed fourteen.
Angelina Jolie has met with refugees in Lebanon and Greece in a bid to bring the spotlight on them. Germany’s Merkel thinks only Turkey can stem the flow and has called for a Pan-European meeting to address the issue.
The Kurds in Syria are calling for a Federalization of Syria, creating more independence for them. No else seems very much in favor of the solution, especially Assad, who sees it as the beginning of the break-up of his country.
Putin has announced in the last couple of days that Russia has accomplished its mission in Syria and is beginning a withdrawal of a majority of its forces. Indeed, half the Russian planes have departed but eyebrows are raised as to whether this is actually going to be the kind of withdrawal that Putin intimates.
“The Happiest Place on Earth” is Disney owned. However, the happiest country on the planet is Denmark, which has held the top spot for three of the four years that the World Happiness Report has been issued.
Next are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Canada, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden.
Poor Burundi is the unhappiest country. Just above it on the list are Syria, Togo, Afghanistan, Benin, Rwanda, Guinea, Liberia, Tanzania and Madagascar. Poor and riven with war or disease or both, they are at the bottom.
You’re wondering where the US is on this scale, aren’t you? We’re number 13, actually a little higher than I thought we might be.
Russia is number 110 and China is 83rd and India is 118th.
If interested in Hollywood and the often salacious stories that come out that place, a new book is due out, “James Dean: Tomorrow Never Comes,” by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, claiming that James Dean and Marlon Brando had an on/off sadomasochistic sexual relationship from their meeting to Dean’s death in a car accident in 1955.
Long dead but still capable of steaming up the book sales.
New York approaches.
Tags:Amtrak, Angelina Jolie, Bernie Sanders, Brando/Dean S&M Sex relationship, Brussels, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, James Dean, Kasich, Marlon Brando, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Merkel, Merrick Garland, Nigerian Mosque Bombing, Obama, Pakistan Bus Bombing, Putin, Syria, World Happiness Report
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 13, 2016
It is grey and overcast outside; warmish but not so much as yesterday, a bright and beautiful day in the Hudson Valley. Yesterday, with my friend, Pam, I went down to the Farmer’s Market, still held this time of year in the Parish Hall at Christ Church, purchasing a ganache for dessert, a freshly baked baguette and a few other things.
Since I have volunteered to lead the charge for Easter Brunch at church, I tarried while Sally Brodsky, the chief kitchen person at Christ Church, showed me how to operate the stove and ovens, which had befuddled me.
As I type this on Sunday morning, I am sitting in the living room with shards of sun slipping between the clouds. Pamela is showering and Tory is catching a few more winks of sleep. In a bit of time, I will be taking them down to the Hudson Train Station, sending them off to New York, where both have business this week.
They have been together for twenty-six years; Tory and I have known each other for thirty-one.
As everyone does these days, we talked politics as the fantastic scenario of this year plays out.
Trump rallies have grown violent, left wing protestors and Trump supporters clashed in Chicago. Conservative reporter Michelle Fields has claimed that Trump’s campaign manager assaulted her when she tried to pose a question to the candidate.
Marco Rubio is making Tuesday’s Florida primaries a make or break it for him, as Kasich is doing in Ohio. If they cannot carry their home states, what hope is there?
Just moments ago, former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, endorsed Kasich.
There seems to be an effort by many Republicans to rally around Ted Cruz in an effort to stop the Trump momentum, a thought only slightly less scary than having Trump as the Republican nominee.
Hillary Clinton made an appearance at Nancy Reagan’s funeral and absurdly praised the Reagans for their leadership in the AIDS crisis which unfolded during his administration. Anyone who lived through that era, and I did, will remember that they were famously silent on AIDS.
What was Hillary thinking?
While all eyes here are focused on the race for the presidential nomination for the Democratic and Republican parties, there are major elections happening today in Germany, a major test for Angela Merkel’s open door to refugees and migrants.
I don’t think of the Ivory Coast as a vacation spot but in that country, Grand-Bassam, is a popular destination for Ivorians and foreigners. Gunmen roamed its beaches and killed many; the number still undetermined and for reasons still unknown.
Suspicion, of course, goes immediately to IS for this kind of attack. At the same time, it has been revealed that IS is forcing females to use birth control so that pregnancy will not interfere with their use as sex slaves. You can’t rape a woman if she’s pregnant, so birth control is being use to prevent pregnancy and allow for continued rape.
The world’s oldest man is a 112 year old survivor of Auschwitz, a former confectioner, living in Haifa, Israel. It took awhile to confirm his status as so many records were scattered during the war. But he has been now affirmed, a living monument of a terrible time. The oldest living person is a 115 year old American woman, who was born in 1899. What they have seen…
Not so long ago, the head of IS’s chemical attack force was captured. It did not prevent them from launching a chemical attack in which 600 were wounded, a child died and thousands fled their homes.
I’m home now, after dropping Tory and Pam off at the train station for their trip into the city. We had lunch at Vico, on Warren Street, where we all had a great burgers and wonderful fries.
In the time since I’ve left home, now about three hours, the Ivory Coast has confirmed 14 dead and there has been a suicide bombing in Ankara that has killed at least 27 and wounded 75.
So the world beat goes on, while I am now seated on the deck, looking at the creek slowly passing by, a mallard having just taken flight to the north, bleating as it ascended into the sky.
When I came here, there were hundreds of mallards. Most are gone now. It is quieter but somehow less peaceful.
Tags:Amtrak, Angela Merkel, Ankara bombing, Auschwitz, Claverack, Donald Trump, German Elections, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, Isis, Ivory Coast Killings, John Boehner, Kasich, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Pamela Carter, Rubio, Ted Cruz, Tory Abel, Trump Rallies, Vico, World's oldest man
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Daesh, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 4, 2016
Chet Baker’s “Jazz in Paris” plays while I am typing, courtesy of Amazon Prime, the service I am learning it is hard to live without. It pays for itself with free shipping around Christmas not to mention being able to find things there I can’t find easily in stores. I mean it seems like everything is there. They have just released a new device, Amazon Tap, that works with their Echo. Have to learn more about that…
When I woke this morning, it was chill but bright and light speckled on the creek as I looked out the window waiting for my electric kettle to boil the water for my tea.
It was an easy day. I spent the morning in the annual great American adventure, preparing information for my taxes for the accountant who does both my business and my personal returns. Finishing that, I went to Hudson and had lunch with my friend Dena Moran, who has moved her shop, Olde Hudson, into larger digs. Afterwards, I had my oil changed and then came home and gathered the piles of receipts and prepared for them to be stored away.
While we were at lunch, Dena and I both checked out what Mitt Romney said about Donald Trump. While I was doing taxes, Mitt was skewering The Donald, calling him a “phony,” “a fraud” and many other things. Good for Mitt… It’s the most I have respected him in years.
Trump responded in The Donald’s way. He looked back on 2012 when he said Mitt would have dropped to his knees to have The Donald’s endorsement. That’s not a pretty picture… According to The Donald, Mitt’s a failed candidate and the only person who “chokes” more than Mitt is Marco Rubio.
Does anyone get tired of this?
Shockingly, among Muslims who vote Republican, he’s the most popular candidate. What? Not something I understand but it’s real. It seems they think once elected, he’ll become pragmatic and work on economic issues, which is their greatest concern, and forgot all the anti-Muslim rhetoric. There is a part of me that suspects they are delusional, rather like Jews who couldn’t really believe Hitler was serious.
Caitlyn Jenner is supporting Ted Cruz, which seems as crazy to me as Muslims supporting The Donald.
In other happy news, Kim Jong Un of North Korea has ordered his military to be ready to use nuclear weapons at any time. Perhaps preemptively, as the UN voted in the most severe sanctions in twenty years against his country. The pudgy young man is determined, desperately determined, the world give him respect. I suspect bad parenting.
In Syria, the fragile truce has given some respite to the desperate inhabitants of that poor country. Thinking about them helped me realize how grateful I am to be here, poised above the Claverack Creek where sun speckles in the morning on the water, where I can listen to jazz and think about the issues of the world while not dodging mortar fire or bombs from above.
Tags:Caitlyn Jenner, Chet Baker, Claverack, Claverack Creek, Donald Trump, Hudson, jazz in Paris, Kim Jong - Un, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mitt Romney, New York, Olde Hudson, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Airstrikes, Claverack, Columbia County, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
March 3, 2016
On the nights before the days I teach, not only do I set my iPhone alarm, I also set my clock radio. I want to be sure I am up in plenty of time to get myself centered, caffeinated and to gather everything I need for class.
Since I taught today, the clock radio went off, loudly, and the very first thing I heard this morning was “Trump.” Loudly, gratingly, irritatingly… The moment I heard his name I knew he had won big last night and I shuddered, hit the snooze alarm and buried myself underneath my pillow.
Trump did win big last night. On the way to class I purchased copies of the New York Times, The New York Post, The Albany Times Union and our local Register-Star. I broke the class up into four groups, giving each group a copy of the four papers and asked them to judge them against the points that Rex Smith had made about the ethics of journalism.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, the New York Times got the best reviews for objectivity, followed by the Albany Times – Union. One of the students pointed out that in the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, that all the coverage of the Republicans was in color and had more pages than they gave for the Democrats, whose coverage was all in black and white. Very interesting…
The poor Register Star didn’t really even register. It had almost no coverage of Super Tuesday.
Hillary Clinton won but not as decisively as her supporters would have liked. She battered Bernie but didn’t knock him out. Yesterday did make his march to the nomination more difficult and possibly impossible. Hillary won Massachusetts, which had been expected to go to Bernie.
Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican candidate, is expected to give a speech shortly about the 2016 race. He has been very hard on Trump in his Twitter feed of late. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say on Thursday. I didn’t much like him as the Republican nominee as it seemed, to me, that he had no center which I had once thought he did. Perhaps now that he is finished with running he will have returned to the center and will say things from his heart.
Ben Carson has signaled he may be ending his candidacy. Ted Cruz is positioning himself as the only one who could possible beat Trump. Rubio won Minnesota, my home state, last night. I think they thought of him as the least of all evils.
Aubrey McClendon, an energy entrepreneur in Oklahoma, died today in a fiery crash while he was speeding down a road. Yesterday, he had been indicted. Today he is dead. It will take two weeks to figure out what really happened. He was fifty-six. He was accused of rigging bids.
Astronaut Scott Kelly returned to earth today after nearly a year in orbit. He has an identical twin brother, also an astronaut, and NASA is attempting to find out just what a year in space does to a person. They are thinking toward Mars. Pretty amazing, don’t you think?
The UN has imposed the severest sanctions on North Korea in twenty years as a result of its continuing to develop nuclear weapons and delivery systems. From what I have observed and certainly I am not a foreign policy expert, it’s the people of North Korea who will suffer and there is no way I can see they will push for a regime change. The pudgy little dictator of North Korea will still find ways to get his delicacies while his people resume eating grass.
The Pentagon has begun using Special Forces to capture IS leaders. They have had one success and aim for more. But the Pentagon doesn’t want to get back into the prisoner business so after questioning, the IS individual will be turned over to the Iraqis.
The evening is coming to a close. The dryer has just buzzed, announcing that the last load of clothes has been finished. The only sound I hear now is the ticking of an old clock that my parents had which one of their parents had. I think of it as the heart of the house, ticking time away, each moment taking us further into the future, which none of us can know.
I have some friends who live down in the Caribbean. I am tempted to ask them what it would take for me to go there should Trump become President.
Tags:Albany Times Union, Aubrey McClendon, Ben Carson, Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, IS, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mitt Romney, NASA, New York, North Korea, Register Star, Rupert Murdoch, Scott Kelly, Ted Cruz
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hollywood, Hudson New York, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
February 28, 2016
As my train heads north out of Penn Station, the setting sun glints golden light off the towers that have sprung up over the years on the Jersey side of the Hudson River. In the relatively balmy weather, runners are trotting up the paths that line the Manhattan side of the river while traffic on the West Side Highway is bumper to bumper. I am skimming by it all.
This is the second to last leg of my trip back from Greenville, South Carolina, where I visited friends. From their house to the airport, airport to Newark, the Rail Train to NJ Transit to Penn and now from Penn to Hudson, then by car to home. I think I will be tuckered out by the time I get to the cottage tonight.
It’s the Academy Awards tonight and Lionel and Pierre are having folks over to watch on their large screen television. I’ll go there but am not sure how long I will last.
The individual who has been showing all the qualities of lasting is Donald Trump, the much mocked man of the combover has defied his critics and all the pundits and the Republican Party is starting to realize he probably has a good chance of being the nominee.
He has stepped into some trouble [when hasn’t he?] when he refused to disavow the support of David Duke, the former head of the Ku Klux Klan and by failing to disavow the KKK itself. His opponents, of course, jumped on it. Rubio declared this failure made him unfit to be President.
As usual, Trump backpedaled on Twitter once he got a handle on the fact his foot was in his mouth.
Will he live to fight another day? Of course.
According to many reports, the Republican grandees are horrified, frightened and desperate to stop him and have no idea about how to do so. They have been losing their grip on the party since the Tea Party genie got let out of the bottle and now this…
Clinton, as in Hillary, is gleefully delighted in her win yesterday in South Carolina. She and Sanders are on the march to Super Tuesday from which she hopes to emerge with a daunting delegate lead.
The game is afoot, would say Sherlock…
An Ohio Baptist minister was shot to death today as he was walking back to the pulpit as the choir sang. The shooter may have been his brother.
In Indiana, three young Muslim men were shot “execution style” and the police are working to understand what has happened and how it happened.
In Baghdad, seventy have died from suicide bombers linked to IS.
In the European Refugee Crisis, 70,000 may be trapped in Greece next month as borders are closing. Spring cannot come soon enough for the refugees.
36 Russians have died in a methane gas explosion in a coal mine.
The Syrian Truce is fraying as the army has attacked and the Russians have been sending out airstrikes.
I could go on. The litany of bad news is seemingly endless. And while there aren’t a lot of “feel good” stories today, the sun in the west is glowing red orange as I move north. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
In the room at my friends where I stayed there was a pillow that was stitched with the phrase: old friends are the best friends. That’s very true. Old friends are old friends for a reason. We have endured and are still there for each other.
My mantra of gratitude was said today as I rode up the escalator at Penn from the NJ Transit train. A little late but not forgotten…
Tags:Academy Awards, Bernie Sanders, David Duke, Donald Trump, Greenville, Hillary Clinton, Indiana Muslim Killings, IS, KKK, Ku Klux Klan, Marco Rubio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, South Carolina, Syria, Syrian Truce
Posted in 2016 Election, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Gun Violence, Hollywood, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 23, 2016
Outside, the world is dark, though the moon is full and bright and big overhead. It has been a clear, sunny day with temps in the mid-40’s, pretty perfect for the 22nd of February.
Yesterday, I went to church and then to Albany and by the time I got home, the stuffing had been knocked out of me and I tumbled into bed about five and ended up falling asleep somewhere around nine. Going to a party up there exhausted me. Carrying a crockpot up a small hill was nearly impossible. I felt old and fragile and I was not happy.
Today, I woke up early and it has been the most active day I’ve had since I was out of the hospital. I was doing just fine and then, about twenty minutes ago, the wall was hit and I sank back into bed.
My sister, the nurse, has been telling me to listen to my body and I have been. When it says rest, I do. I stretched too far yesterday.
So here I am, propped up in bed in my sweats, jazz playing and my laptop in my lap.
It was a good day. Good class. Isaac Phillips, a young entrepreneur, Skyped in from Mexico City where he is working on an app for the Latin American market. This sounds promising. Ads delivered to your phone in exchange for your data bill being paid.
Isaac is a really good young man. And he is not much older [and younger than some] of my students. He spoke about following your passion also meant suffering for your passion. It was a great dose of reality about what it takes to make it in the high tech world.
I also showed a short film about the history of media which featured a poster of “The Jazz Singer,” the first talkie. A lifetime ago I had lunch with May McAvoy, who was the female lead in “The Jazz Singer.” She and three other stars of the era talked of the ’20’s as if they were yesterday and were a window into a world that was gone.
One of the other stars that was there that day was Leatrice Joy, who was divorced by John Gilbert so he could marry Greta Garbo, who left him at the altar. She was one of my mother’s favorites.
Esther Ralston was another, top billed over Gary Cooper in her day, who talked about having to beat off her husband with her umbrella when he tried to push her into the Grand Canyon after the stock market crash so he could collect the insurance.
These were women who had lived and were still seizing life when I met them.
On Twitter, I posted an article about the controversy between Apple and the Feds over unlocking a phone used by the terrorist couple in Riverside who killed fourteen and wounded many more. Apple is not wanting to do it; the Feds are demanding it and everyone is thinking about it. I have made no decision about it and was a bit surprised when my post brought forth strong comments on both sides of the issue.
And then I realized it was really important and how we decide this is going to be important going forward. How does a free society remain free in a time of terror? I don’t have the answers but appreciate the questions being asked.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has fired his spokesman for a tweet, inaccurate, about Rubio. Cruz is getting a slimy reputation and he is trying to shake it. He’s not shady but he hires people who are… Excuse me?
Jeb Bush spent $130,000,000 running for President and has now bowed out of the race. I actually thought he would be the candidate; it seemed logical. My friend, Jeff Cole, picked Rubio. I think Jeff is smarter than I am.
In Kalamazoo, Michigan an Uber driver shot eight people, killing six and picking up rides between the killings. Officials are describing it as “unexplainable” and it is but then so much is “unexplainable.”
Russia and the US have agreed to help implement a ceasefire in Syria, which is great if it works though it doesn’t include the Nursa Front or IS so who knows what actually will happen. Hopefully, some relief for the tortured souls living there…
Also tortured, but not as viscerally as Syria, is Yahoo, a tech giant who has lost its way. In 1999, it was the Google of its day. Now it’s not and there is lots of talk about dismembering the company, selling it off in pieces. Marissa Meyers may well be its last CEO.
And that’s the last I can do for today. I am worn out. Need to quit now and allow myself to fall asleep watching something good, start tomorrow all over, hopefully as fresh as I felt today.
Tags:Apple, Claverack, Esther Ralston, Gary Cooper, Greta Garbo, Hudson, IS, Isaac Phillips, Isis, John Gilbert, Leatrice Joy, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, May McAvoy, Melissa Meyers, New York, Putin, Russia, Syria, Ted Cruz, The Jazz Singer, Yahoo
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Putin, Russia, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
February 21, 2016
It’s a wild Saturday night here in Claverack. The creek is illuminated with floodlights. I am having one of the first martinis since I got out of the hospital, now almost two weeks ago. My body is working very hard to be normal; I am not as tired as I was and while there are still some tests to be done I think Dr. Paolino was right: I was sick and now I am better.
On Pandora is Hipster Cocktail Music, a channel I added by accident but thought I would try out. What I am discovering is I’m not a hipster. Probably time to change to another channel soon. An interesting experiment.
Life is an interesting experiment. Cooking certainly is. I have been cooking for the last three hours, prepping dishes for an off the train, train party. Those of you who know me, know that our train community is tight knit and we party off and on the train. Tomorrow, Loretta, who is one of the conductors is throwing a party that will include her family and friends, which includes those of us from the train.
In the slow cooker, I have BBQ ribs cooking and I have in the oven something I have never attempted before, a casserole. Never in my long life have I cooked one so I thought I would attempt one. This one is ham and rice and vegetables and who knows whether it will work out or not.
All of these have been diversions from the real world. Or what we think of as “the real world.” Hillary has narrowly won Nevada, which she needed to do and Trump, God Help Us, has won South Carolina. He is now in for the long haul.
Trump may very well win the Republican nomination. I suspect it will be as catastrophic as Goldwater was in 1964 but in this campaign, all bets are off. Everyone I know is, as the Brits would say, “gob smacked.” I know I am. Like many others I thought Trump would burn out by end of summer but here he is, stronger than ever.
Spring is on us. [It was 63 degrees here in Claverack today. No need for the winter coat I wore when I left the house. People were in shorts.] And Trump is with us more than he ever was.
Look, it’s Saturday night and people are out celebrating whatever they do on Saturday night while I am tucked away in the cottage writing and thinking about world events.
And while I am sitting here, still listening to Hipster Cocktail Music, I noticed that the last survivor of Treblinka, a Nazi concentration camp, has died. His name was Samuel Willenberg, a man who said he survived “by chance.” They are leaving us, the witnesses to that incredible, horrible time that was World War II. The unspeakable horrors of that time are being resurrected in these days, with IS and its atrocities.
While they boggle our mind, they continue. There is no World War to stop them. All is fractious politics in the Mideast.
It is sweet to be here in the cottage, my dining room table a mess of papers from my teaching, the lights illuminating the creek, music on Pandora, the hum of my dishwasher in the background, plans to redo my bathroom.
All the lucky things I enjoy because of the moment in time and place in which I was born, coupled with the luckiness that my life provided me. When I wake in the morning, I work to take time to say my mantra: thank you for this day in which I find myself, thank you for the resources to live through this day and thank you for the luck that has brought me to this place, cozied in my cottage, surrounded by friends and living a magical life.
Tags:Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Hudson, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Obama
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Greene County New York, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Nazis, Obama, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Syria, Trump, Uncategorized, World War II | Leave a Comment »
January 30, 2016
Hudson Valley Lionel White Pierre Font Downton Abbey iTunes Hillary Email Crisis Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Iowa Caucuses Zika Virus Putin Russian Economy Ammon Bundy
It is a beautiful day in the Hudson Valley, the sun generously warming us into the mid-forties with a high of fifty promised for tomorrow. The light glints off the creek and the wind is shaking the branches of the trees just outside the dining room window.
When I found myself cognizant this morning, I realized I was happy — for no particular reason, just caught up in a pleasant kind of joy that has remained with me during the day.
Tonight I am cooking for Lionel and Pierre and we’ll watch a movie from my collection. Having subscribed to iTunes in order to watch the program, I now am in possession of the rest of the season of “Downton Abbey” and can binge if I so choose.
Not one of my students had heard of “Downton Abbey” when I asked them.
A LOT, I suspect, is going to be heard in the next few days about the twenty-two “top secret” emails found on Hillary’s server. The question remains whether they were “top secret” when she received or sent them; there has been much classification after the fact with her emails. One of the “top secret” ones seems, according to sources, to have been a publicly published article.
Whatever the truth, it will be made much of in the days to come and it is especially inconvenient as it is only three days to the Iowa caucuses and Hillary has been losing ground to Bernie.
Suddenly, the Zika virus has become a major health threat, spreading rapidly through the Americas but nowhere more prevalent than in Recife, Brazil. An impoverished city is being made more miserable by the mosquito born virus which results in some infected mothers to give birth to children with microcephaly, with heads and brains smaller than normal.
At least five countries have advised women not to get pregnant until more is known. Some are saying Zika could be more of threat than Ebola.
A Russian plane violated Turkish airspace again. Turkey did not shoot it down but did warn of consequences.
One wonders if Putin is playing with fire because he needs diversions from the rapidly declining Russian economy? His budget has been slashed again because of the declining price of oil. The Russian budget has been built on the basis of oil at $50.00 a barrel, which it’s not.
There are reports that the average Russian citizen is beginning to get restless and are beginning to protest, particularly in towns away from Moscow. Retirees are having their pensions cut. And, after a taste of a better life, Russians may not want to suffer silently for Mother Russia.
While I sit watching the placid Claverack Creek, the European Refugee Crisis continues; 37 drowned yesterday while attempting to reach Greece.
Three dangerous inmates escaped from an Orange County, California jail and all three have been returned to custody. One turned himself in and the other two were captured in a stolen van in a Whole Foods parking lot in San Francisco after an alert woman notified police of the presence there of a van matching the description of one being used by the escapees.
While Ammon Bundy is in custody, the Oregon stand-off continues with some of his followers still at the refuge even though Bundy has told them to stand down.
The sun is beginning to set, a golden light is falling on the barren trees across the creek. It is time for me to sign off and begin to cook, distracting myself from the world’s woes.
Tags:Ammon Bundy, Bernie Sanders, Claverack, Hillary Clinton, Hudson Valley, IS, Lionel White, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Pierre Font, Putin, Russian economy, Zika
Posted in 2016 Election, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Social Commentarhy, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 24, 2016
Winter Storm Jonas Columbia County JFK Airport The Red Dot Transform Films “Newtown” Nick Stuart The Donald Iowa Caucuses The Revenant Leonardo di Caprio Star Wars Jeff Bezos Blue Origins
The coastline of the United States has been brutalized by Winter Storm Jonas. I fled on Friday so that I could be at home when he/it hit. However, strangely enough, not a flake of snow has fallen in Columbia County. It has been cold with a bruising wind but nothing like the snow in the city.
JFK had 30 inches of snow on the runway with thousands of canceled flights. My friend Larry was stranded in the city on the way to spend her birthday with his wife in Mexico. My friend Jerry was on one of the last flights out before they shut the airport down.
And here we are, in great shape. It was my intention to go to the city tomorrow afternoon and I think I won’t, giving New York a few more days to clean itself up before I head in.
Down in Washington, DC my nephew Kevin is part of a group of volunteers who are shoveling the walks of the elderly and shut-ins. So like Kevin, which is one of the reasons I am so proud of him.
In one of the most tragic of storm related deaths, a good Samaritan pulled over to help a motorist who had slid off the road only to have the motorist shoot him to death.
Up early today, I prepped for class this week, went to church.
It is my habit these days to light candles at church for a variety of things — a friend in the UK who is fighting a brain tumor, another friend whose daughter is suffering from traumatic brain disorder, for myself, for the world in which live. Today there was only one match and so I managed to light only one candle for all those things.
I started lighting candles as thanks and hope when I was in my early teens after an incident in which I nearly drowned.
Following church, I was off to the Dot where I sat doing lesson plans until I either had to order or not. After Eggs Benedict on potato latkes, I headed home to do some more work.
One of the things I did was to log on to Twitter and follow #Transformfilmsinc.
Transform Films is premiering a film at Sundance this year, “Newtown.” It follows the ravaging of lives that has occurred since the mass shooting there a little over three years ago. Nick Stuart, my best friend, is Executive Producer.
As I type, they are screening.
As I grow older, I am aware how lucky I am and have been. I have had Death nip at my heels a couple of times and am still here to tell the tale. The loss of my friend Paul has been sobering and a reminder of my own mortality.
It is the course of life. None of us get out of here alive.
While I am here, I will continue to observe and to comment as best I can, savoring the ability to shape words to some meaning.
In the fireplace, a small fire is burning. The dishwasher is running. The flood lights illuminate the creek. I have missed Snowmaggedon.
To my political amazement, Trump has gained 15 points in the last two weeks in Iowa. The Donald is a juggernaut to be sure.
In film, everyone I know is talking up Leonardo di Caprio’s “The Revenant.” So much so I feel I must see it sooner than later. I am late to seeing “Star Wars.” I will, eventually but my passion for The Force has cooled.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, also has another company, Blue Origins. It successfully sent up a rocket and had it return to land upright, successfully, twice now. Pretty impressive, I think. One more step to realizing the reach out to space.
One of the things that has saddened me in my life was that having once reached the moon, we seemed to stop striving. Now it is Internet billionaires who are revitalizing the race to space. Good for them.
Tags:Blue Origins, Christ Church, Claverack, Columbia County, Iowa caucuses, Jeff Bezos, JFK Airport, Leonardo di Caprio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Newtown, Nick Stuart, Red Dot, Star Wars, The Donald, The Revanant, Transform Films, Winter Storm Jonas
Posted in 2016 Election, Columbia County, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 03 18 2016 Thoughts while riding north…
March 19, 2016A brilliant sun is beginning to set over the Catskills as I ride north on the train. There is a great swath of sunlit river streaming straight toward the train as we crawl north.
There might be snow this weekend; a nor’easter may be storming our way though the forecast for Claverack doesn’t seem to indicate snow. It will be what it will be…
I am headed down to the city on Monday so I can sit in on the taping of Howard Bloom’s podcast, “Howard Bloom Saves The Universe.” [Available on iTunes.] Then a couple of meetings on Tuesday, a lunch on Wednesday and then I’ll race back to the country.
Easter Sunday is in front of me and I’m doing the brunch after Mass. I am beginning to think the General in me will need to come out. With moderation, of course…
While I have been doing my meetings in New York, the Belgian police have been conducting raids, which netted one of the prime suspects in last fall’s Paris attacks, Salah Abdesalam. It may be an intelligence coup. Other suspects also have been detained, some for helping him.
The EU has struck a deal with Turkey to return refugees to them while Greece, a bankrupt country, is on the verge of being a refugee prison. Would this be or not be a good time for an American to go to Greece? I love the country and would like to visit.
The Hudson is now steel grey and there is pink in the sunset. “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.” Pink? Probably good…
Mitt Romney has said he is supporting Ted Cruz. Has it come to this?
Merrick Garland made some rounds on the Hill today while the Republicans say, with absolutism, they will not consider him. Ah, love gridlock… So now that Congress in in recess the fight is going to the home front.
It’s my understanding Georgia has passed a religious freedom bill, which is interpreted by many to be anti-gay.
The NFL as in the National Football League, has said that this might impact their plans to have the Superbowl in Georgia. Unintended consequences…
The markets have finally caught up with where they were at the end of last year but more to be thought of about where the markets are. Are things good again or not? The reports in the press seem divided.
Dark has descended on the trip. We are now headed toward Hudson. The evening progresses. When I am off the train, I’ll head to the Red Dot for a bite to eat and then home.
My bathroom is being repainted and from the pictures I’ve seen looks quite wonderful. Tomorrow I am meeting young Nick to pick up a new sink and faucet while at the same time picking out new appliances for the kitchen.
Now that I am living more at the cottage than anywhere else I would like it to be more me than it is now.
It is what we all want, our homes to represent ourselves.
Home is something I have thought about all my life, a looking for home. The cottage is the most I have ever felt at home and I am so grateful I have found that place.
The world will roar and the political battles will be fought and at the end, I will be at home, in the cottage, looking over the creek while the world plays itself out.
Tags:Amtrak, Belgian Police, Claverack, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Howard Bloom, Howard Bloom Saves the Universe, Hudson, Hudson River, Iran, IS, Markets, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, NFL, NFL and Georgia, Obama, Putin, Red Dot, Salah Abdesalam, Syria
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Greene County New York, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, Howard Bloom, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Putin, Social Commentary, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »