Archive for the ‘Mat Tombers’ Category
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 »
January 22, 2016
Winter Storm Jonas DC Claverack James Green Magnetic Media Jerry May Stock Markets European Refugee Crisis Alexander Litvinenko Putin Film Academy Diversity Crisis X Files
I slipped out of the city today on the 11:20 and headed north. It was chill in the city, feeling colder than the temperature. Once I reached the cottage I decided to remain in for the rest of the day. A fire is burning and jazz is playing on Pandora. I will probably turn in early, watch some video, read a book, have a rest…
The eyes of the East coast are all turned on Winter Storm Jonas, which threatens havoc to the coastal cities. Washington, DC might get as much as two feet of snow and the Mayor there is calling it potentially life threatening. And it well could be; DC is not particularly adept at dealing with severe winter weather.
Just now I looked at the weather forecast for Claverack and it looks like the storm might miss us. Precipitation forecast is only 10%. The storm will batter the coastal areas and leave us relatively unscathed. But that could, of course, change. I’ll let you know tomorrow.
Thursday I had lunch with an old boss, James Green, who is now CEO of Magnetic Media and they are doing very well, thank you. It was good and comforting to spend a couple of hours with him. He is a warm and generous soul.
Dinner was with my long time friend, Jerry May, a chance to catch up, hear about the heart valve replacement he had had last year and to cherish each other’s friendship. I am hoping his plane gets out of JFK tonight for Seattle, where he lives.
All the major financial indices were up today after a brutal week that challenged anyone faint of heart.
My well seasoned wood is burning wonderfully. The music is lovely and I am glad to be home, snuggled in the warmth of the cottage. There feels no reason to stir from here tonight.
It has been a week to recover from…
Paul’s Memorial Service took more from me than I thought it would though being there gave back to me and I am so glad to have been part of it.
The world remains a brutal place.
Dozens have drowned in attempting to flee Syria, continuing the flow toward Europe even though the seas are dangerous this time of year. In ancient days, no ships sailed during this part of the year. The dozens included more than a dozen children.
It has been ten years since Alexander Litvinenko died as a result of drinking polonium laced tea in London. Once a Russian operative he became a fierce critic of Putin. One of the things he accused Putin was that Tsar Vladimir was a pedophile.
And there are creepy, creepy photos of Putin on a stroll in 2006 calling a five year old boy over to him, pulling up his shirt and kissing his stomach. Seems really inappropriate. Litvinenko said that Putin had the films of him and underage boys destroyed when he gained power.
And it is those accusations think some that made Litvinenko a marked man. A British judge said today that “probably” Putin ordered the removal of Litvinenko. And polonium poisoning is not a pretty way to go. The poor man lingered in horrific pain for three weeks.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is embroiled in a controversy about the lack of diversity in its nominations. It’s the second year there have been no people of color in them.
The Academy says that it is going to work to broaden its membership. As it should. It is primarily male, white and the average age is 63. Less than 2% are African American and less than 2% are Latino. There are about 6,000 members.
Charlotte Rampling, an actress that was very big in the 1960s and is nominated this year decried the protests as “anti-white racism” during an interview in Paris, where she now lives. I used to really like her.
The “X Files” are returning in a six part mini-series. Looking forward to that. Hopefully better than the films.
It’s dark but not late. No snow yet. Looking forward to the morning. I’m going to believe we’ll miss the hit and I will be just fine.
Hope you are just fine too!
Tags:Alexander Litvinenko, Claverack, European Refugee Crisis, Film Academy Diversity Crisis, James Green, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Putin, Stock Markets, Winter Storm Jonas, X Files
Posted in Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gay, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Syrian Refugee Crisis, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 21, 2016
Today was a long day. It was my first day of class and it reminded me of how much work teaching is and how much work I will have to do to prepare for each class.
Class was dismissed early because I had to drive down to Livingston, NJ for my friend Paul’s Memorial Service. I dismissed class at 11:45 and made it to Livingston, NJ at 1:58. The service started at 2:00.
I was the fourth person to speak. It was hard for me to make it through. The sense of loss caught in my throat though I did not break down but it was all that I could do not to.
That was true of almost everyone who spoke. The last speaker was his mother, now 105.
His grandson Daniel was riven by grief, hard to see, hard to bear. When I arrived, his daughter hugged me and said, “You had fun, you two.” And we did.
As I drove down, I listened to the radio, always attempting to find a station to listen to that could be picked up. It was hard. I heard about the stock market plunge and there was naught that I could do about it driving down New York 87. The market dive seems to be driven by the fall of oil prices. One commentator said that the markets weren’t factoring in the good that might come of lower oil prices.
With sanctions being lifted on Iran, it is about to start selling its oil which will further depress prices. It is going to be a wicked winter, I fear.
I had thought to drive from Livingston, NJ into the city and spend the night but had decided against it as there is a storm brewing which could make driving tough as early as Friday. So I came home and will train in tomorrow morning for some meetings and a dinner with an old friend, Jerry May.
He and I have known each other for thirty-two years, having met when we were young, in advertising. I was at his 30th birthday party, having helped planned the surprise party that night.
He lived in San Francisco then and was my client when I was at A&E. Now he lives in Seattle, at a new agency. His now wife, Gail, lured me to Seattle on the pretext she was throwing a big birthday party for Jerry.
They punked us. They threw a surprise wedding for themselves. I was so pleased that across the years Jerry would want me at his wedding. We had seen each other little but had remained in contact through LinkedIn and I looked him up when I passed through Seattle on one of my train journeys.
People make the fabric of our lives. Riches come and go. But it is the people we touch that really, really, really matter.
For Paul’s Memorial Card, his daughter Karen chose a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson. I pass it on tonight to you.
“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better whether by healthy child, a garden patch, or a reformed social condition, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Paul’s grandson concluded his speech with saying his grandfather had succeeded. He had made Daniel’s life breathe easier. He made many peoples live breathe easier, mine included.
May we all succeed.
Tags:Claverack, Hudson, Isis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Paul Krich, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Red Dot
Posted in Columbia County, Hudson New York, Life, Literature, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 19, 2016
Minnesota Los Angeles Fred Pinkard Rocky II Ron Bernstein Adagio Nik Buian The Eagles Glenn Frey Hotel California Paul Krich David Bowie Donald Trump British Parliament about Trump Martin Luther King Day JFK RFK Nazis Genocide
In the long ago and far away, I left Minnesota and ended up in Los Angeles. Volunteering at a theater as an usher, I met Fred Pinkard, an African American actor who guest starred in television shows and was in Rocky II; never famous but almost always working.
I needed work and he put me together with Ron Bernstein who owned Adagio, a little “Cafe California” kind of restaurant down the street from Paramount. As a favor to Fred, Ron hired me. I was not good. I was actually going to be fired. I could feel it.
Staying up half the night one night, I kept thinking about it and worked out a system. The next day everyone on the staff gathered round me at the end of my shift and asked: what happened? I had worked out a system. I went from being the worst to the best.
Late at night after all the customers had left, Nik Buian, the manager and I, would crank up the music system and pull out all the bottles of wine that had been left behind with something in them. We’d drink them, talk about life and fold napkins for the next day, sometimes to four in the morning.
We’d listen to The Eagles non-stop. They were his favorite and I can never hear “Hotel California” without thinking of those nights with Nik, folding napkins, learning about wines and sharing good times with a good friend.
Eagles founder Glenn Frey died today at 67. Not much older than I am.
I am surrounded by mortality this week. Wednesday I will be giving a eulogy for my friend Paul, much of it written but in need of a bit of burnishing. My friend Paul, David Bowie, Glenn Frey and I now find I am at the time of my life when friends are beginning to go and it is sobering.
Life is sobering. As I am sitting in my dining room the world is full of all kinds of travails. I know that and am frustrated because I can do so little to change any of it.
This morning I had a conversation with an old work friend who confessed to me how scared he is about this coming election. No one appeals to him; they all frighten him and he will vote based on which one frightens him less.
This is not good. It seems worse than the choice between the lesser of two evils.
Extraordinarily there was a debate in Parliament today about whether to ban Donald Trump from the UK because of “hate speech.” Now it is the purview of the Home Secretary to ban someone from the UK but it was an extraordinary opportunity for the Brits to weigh in on the American election process. One member of Parliament described Trump as “an idiot.”
He is far from that. He is manipulative, decisive and pandering. He is bringing out the worst of us. He reminds me of the crass politicians of ancient Rome and that’s not good.
What is good is that today is Martin Luther King Day and we are remembering an extraordinary man who changed the fabric of American life. He taught black Americans to move beyond their fears and called to white Americans to be the best they could be. When he died I was but a boy and already reeling from the death of JFK. His death and that of RFK mangled my mind, probably for the rest of my life. I still reverberate with all those deaths from the ’60’s when I was young and realizing the world for the first time, making my first realizations of what life was about and what life seemed to be about in those days was killing.
And it hasn’t changed. We have not had many high profile murders as those but we have fallen into the grinding news of killings on a daily basis all over the world, killing that is disgusting, motivated by twisted religious beliefs as the Nazis twisted people into genocide.
Tags:Adagio, British Parliament about Donald Trump, David Bowie, Donald Trump, Fred Pinkard, Genocide, Glenn Frey, Hotel California, JFK, Los Angeles, Martin Luther King, Mat Tombers, Mathew, Mathew Tombers, Minnesota, Nazis, Nik Buian, Paul Krich, RFK, RockyII, Ron Bernstein, The Eagles
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, European Refugee Crisis, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Nazis, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
January 16, 2016
When I woke this morning, the grey sky was sheeting rain and I could hear it pound on the roof. It was a somber morning, reflecting my mood.
Yesterday, as I was about to go into a meeting with the Associate Dean at the college where I begin to teach on Wednesday, I listened to a voice mail on my mobile. It was Andrew, the son-in-law of my good friend Paul Krich.
As soon as I got the message I knew what would be waiting for me when I returned it. Paul, who had been fighting a stoic battle against cancer, had succumbed.
It was news that stunned me almost more than I could handle.
Years ago, when my now ex-partner and I first had the cottage, we quickly developed a routine. My schedule was more flexible than his; I took the 5:35 out of Penn, went to the house, turned up the heat, laid a fire and then went down to meet the train that left Penn at 7:15.
There was a crowd always at the station, many, like me, waiting for significant others to get off. Almost always in the crowd was an elegant man with what white hair he had, carefully shorn, always dressed elegantly. I noticed he met an equally elegant woman who invariably got off the train with bags of food.
It became our custom to go to the Red Dot for dinner. The other couple did too.
The man and I began to nod to each other while waiting on the platform and then, one night, the elegant woman had too many bags and my ex helped her with them as she was getting off the train.
Not more than fifteen minutes later we were at adjoining tables at the Red Dot. Laughing, I said we really should introduce ourselves and we did. It was Paul.
We pulled our tables together and had a lovely evening that became the first of many.
My partner and I split. Not long after Paul and Lorraine separated.
There came a time in the summer after Paul and Lorraine had separated when Paul and I found ourselves at the Dot, seated at the bar, eating dinner. The second time it happened, we left the bar and got a table, starting a tradition of Saturday evening “dates.”
Paul was one of the most amazing men I have ever met. An avid gardener, he knew so much about horticulture, Whenever we were walking he would point out to me plants and tell me their lineage.
He adored and collected botanical prints. He appreciated antiques and taught me about tramp art. To go with him to an antique show or an auction was to be both entertained and educated.
He savored the fine things of life with palpable pleasure.
He rode a Harley – Davidson and wore biker jewelry.
Once he told me he loved to come to the parties at my cottage because I always had such an interesting mix of people at them. And they were an interesting mix, artists and neighbors, filmmakers, real estate agents and restaurant owners, retired state patrol officers and a former lineman for the local electric company. Young and old, gay and straight, all fun and all welcoming of each other…
Paul was inclusive. He had long ago shed the middle class fears and snobberies that flowed through our world as we were growing up. He embraced people of color, the gay men and women who moved in his orbit, the musicians and the dancers and the artists.
He constantly praised my blogging, encouraging me to keep on at a moment when I was thinking of wrapping it up.
He worked at being fair to everyone, to treating them equally. He had a ready laugh and a constant, wonderful twinkle in his eye.
He was the man you counted upon. Everyone who knew him, knew he could be counted upon, to work to his best to be his best. He was a human being, not flawless, none of us are, but he worked hard at his humanity and inspired me.
He invited me to his mother’s 100th birthday party, not a large party but one dominated by warmth and caring, for Millie, his mother, and for him. I will always look back with warmth at the softly lit room and see Paul sitting at the head of the table smiling, his eyes laughing.
The world is diminished with his passing. I have felt bereft since I heard the news. As I was driving into Hudson today for errands, I realized it seemed impossible to me we would not ever again sit in the garden of the Dot, the fountain splashing, chatting about our weeks and our lives.
I cannot imagine a world without Paul but that world now exists and I will have to learn how to cope with it.
Tags:Paul Krich, Red Dot
Posted in Claverack, Columbia County, Gay, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 14, 2016
The sun has set and I’m freshly home from a haircut which means I’m a little itchy around the neck. A fire burns in the stove and jazz plays in the background. Lights illuminate the creek and I have made myself a martini to sip while writing. I spent three hours today volunteering for Habitat for Humanity of Columbia County, helping clean up their database.
The stock market didn’t swoon again today, which is good news for almost everyone I know. It was up 1.41% after falling 2+% yesterday. I was at the gym yesterday on the treadmill, watching CNN. They were tracking the market by the minute, which was too depressing to watch while on the treadmill. So I watched an ancient Kay Francis film on TCM.
It was great to escape into a world where you knew it would all come out right in the end.
Which is what we don’t know about the life we’re living now. It could go in any direction and we have no way of knowing what that direction might be.
And that, my friends, is why I treasure evenings like this at the cottage. For a moment, the world seems on hold, even as I am assimilating events from the day.
In Jakarta, IS claims responsibility for multiple explosions in the capital. At least seven are dead and there is concern that Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim State, which has a secular government, is going to be under fresh attack after several years of calm.
In brighter news, at least three people can claim a piece of the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot though others may surface.
And today the Oscar nominees were announced. “Revenant” with Leonardo di Caprio leads the pack with twelve nominations. Also up there is “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Not long ago an industry insider wondered why they were even mounting a campaign. Today provided the reason why.
Alan Rickman passed away today. He played Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films. I saw him live in a relatively obscure Ibsen play, “John Gabriel Borkman” at BAM five years ago and he was electrifying. His characters were mostly cold and sinister, very different from the man portrayed in the memorials today.
As I type there is another Republican debate beginning. Politics is becoming reality TV in more ways than just having The Donald dancing on the scene. Whose idea was it to have all these debates so far in advance of the election? I want it over already! Really! What did my students used to say? Gag me with a spoon?
There are two iconic television series I have never seen a complete episode of, much to the amazement of my friends. One of them is “Seinfeld” and the other is “Friends.” There will be a sort of reunion of the “Friends” cast in the February tribute to James Burrows who created the program. Matthew Perry may or may not be there as he will be in London for rehearsals of a play.
My martini is finished. The fire is playful. The jazz is beautiful. I am going to sign off and watch the newest episode of “Sherlock” and then head off to bed. Have to be up early in the morning for phone calls and meetings.
It’s been a lovely day. Hope yours was too.
Tags:Alan Rickman, BAM, Benedict Cumberbatch, Claverack, CNN, Friends, IS, Jakarta bombings, Kay Francis, Leonardo di Caprio, Mad Max, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Obama, Revenant, Seinfeld, Sherlock, Snape, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Columbia County, Hollywood, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 12, 2016
It’s late afternoon, Tuesday the 16th, and I am in the Acela Lounge waiting for my train north. I could grab an earlier one but it is probable if I wait for the 5:47, I will see one or two friends I haven’t seen for a while.
Before opening the laptop and letting my fingers tap the keyboard, I was reading about the death of David Bowie at 69. He did not much share the news of his health and the announcement of his death did not reveal the kind of cancer which felled him nor the place where he died.
I was told not long ago that he had a place up in the Hudson Valley. The now ex-wife of my friend Paul Krich, Lorraine, was a good friend of Iman, now Bowie’s widow and she was visiting them one night when I was there for dinner. She was quiet and shy and was with their daughter. She and her daughter retired early, smilingly and charmingly.
Bowie has been prolific in the last months of his life, co-writing a play titled “Lazarus” along with a music video of the same name. Now he is dead, they can be seen as his communicating to the world his time was short.
Time is short for all of us. It’s a blip of time we inhabit this planet, no matter how old we get.
Making the most of his blip of time, media mogul Rupert Murdoch has announced his engagement to the ex-wife of Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, the former supermodel. This is her second marriage, his fourth. She is 59; he is 84. Between them they have ten children.
In Istanbul, not far from the Hagia Sofia, a sixth century Orthodox church now a museum, a young Syrian blew himself up, killing at least ten, mostly Germans, and wounding more. The Turks believe it is IS and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has decried the event.
Putin has hinted today that if Assad ever feels the need to leave Damascus, he might well find welcome in Moscow. If he made that choice, it would lessen the complications for a Syrian peace.
Humanitarian workers who have reached the town of Madaya have found “barely moving skeletons.” It is the worst they have seen in the five year Syrian wars and the image causes me to think of the photos taken of Jews as the camps were liberated from the Germans.
The political circus continues. ANOTHER Republican debate is upon us with Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina now relegated to the “undercard” debate. Rand Paul says no way and he is off to do more campaigning in person than appearing in the second tier debate. Paul could be smart or desperate. Remains to be seen…
Bernie Sanders has a lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and has just moved slightly ahead of her in Iowa. Chelsea has been sent out to campaign.
Though it will probably offend my conservative friends, the NY Times today did a scathing piece on Ted Cruz accusing him of exploiting evangelicals and actually espousing actions that are cruel, painful, and harmful — ones that certainly aren’t very Christian.
As Solicitor General of Texas, he went to the Supreme Court to keep a man in jail who had stolen a calculator from Walmart. Because of a judicial mistake, the man got sixteen years instead of two. When the mistake was discovered, Cruz went into overdrive to keep him in jail the full sixteen. Eventually the poor man was freed after six. All over a calculator? Cruz seems petty and mean and mean spirited all the way round.
Not feeling specially mean spirited and with suspicions friends would be on the train, I went down to Penn Spirits and purchased a bottle of a nice Sauvignon Blanc and a small bottle of sake. And I got several cups.
Now the train is moving. My friends are here. Soon we will open the bottle and enjoy good spirited company. Here’s NOT to you, Mr. Cruz!
Tags:Angela Merkel, Assad, Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina, David Bowie, Hagia Sofia, Hillary Clinton, Hudson Valley, Jerry Hall, Lazurus, Lorraine Krich, Madaya Syria, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Music Video Lazarus, NY Times, Paul Krich, Penn Spirits, Penn Station, Putin, Rand Paul, Rupert Murdoch, Syrian War, Ted Cruz
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, European Refugee Crisis, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Television | 2 Comments »
January 11, 2016
It is Sunday evening and I am at the dining room table, looking out at the creek, lit by the floodlights I have set up to illuminate the creek at night. Soft, classical jazz plays in the background.
For the most part, Christmas is behind me. The tree is down and headed for recycling now that most of the lights have burned out. I think I’ve had seven years from the tree so I can’t complain.
Though I realize as I look around I forgot a few things which I’ll have to take down over the coming week. There is still a wreath on my door and one hanging in the dining room. How I missed that I don’t know.
My heart is not into taking down Christmas. I tend to become a bit melancholy in the process and apologized to young Nick about my moodiness as he dismantled Christmas while I assiduously cleaned up after last night’s dinner party.
While I sit here writing, the world is gearing up for the Golden Globe Awards, which I won’t watch but is the official opening of awards’ season. I did my PGA voting as soon as it came in because I didn’t want to forget.
The question being asked in this awards’ season is whether “Revenant” will finally propel Leonardo DiCaprio towards an Oscar?
I don’t know nor do I much care, truth to be told.
Since 1992 I have been a member of the Television Academy and my membership is up for renewal and while I suspect I will renew I am not sure why. It feels much less relevant than it did when we were fighting to make cable an integral part of the Academy and then to make a place in the tent for “new media.”
I salute my friend Bob Levi, retired now from Turner, who with Jeff Cole and myself and a few others fought and fought hard to make a place in the Academy for those digital pioneers way back in 1999. Jeff and I were the Founding Governors for the Interactive Media Peer Group though I have discovered since then there are others who make that claim. Excuse me! I was there.
It’s Sunday night and most people are wondering what the market will do in the morning. Continue to swoon or make a comeback? Don’t know. I’ll check the futures in the morning.
Sean Penn did an interview with Mexican Drug Lord “El Chapo” at his HQ in the Mexican jungle. It appeared in Rolling Stone. Some laud it, some hate it but it is interesting reading. Celebrity triumphs in journalism in this case…
Ted Cruz was born in Canada of an American mother. Donald Trump is questioning whether is he meets the legal requirements to be President. Some time ago Ted Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship but that hasn’t stopped Trump who is currently trailing him a bit in the polls in Iowa.
I think it will get worse between now and the caucuses in Iowa.
The world is an unbroken trails of woes right now – and I’m not talking about the Republicans.
Merkel’s generosity to refugees is under question after New Year’s attacks on women by men described as North African or Arabic.
We have people of white origin holding a bird preserve in Oregon demanding a rollback of Federal control of lands in the West.
North Korea may or may not have tested a hydrogen weapon but it did test an atomic something which is always worrisome.
And, you know, everything is worrisome. It always has been and will always be so and so tomorrow I will get up and live my life as best I can in this worrisome state.
Tags:Angela Merkel, Bob Levoi, Claverack, Donald Trump, Golden Globes, Jeff Cole, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mexico, New Media, North Korea Hydrogen Bomb, Obama, Oregon Standoff, PGA, Revenant, Rolling Stone, Sean Penn, Ted Cruz, Television Academy, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, China stock market rout, Elections, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Paris Killings, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
January 8, 2016
Stock market rout Jamison Teale Christ Church Hudson Roy Moore Alabama Gay Controversy Tiffany Martin Hamilton Tommy Ragland Charlie Hebdo Anniversary Oklahoma earthquakes Netflix Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton John Kerry Syrian Peace Process Iran Saudi Arabia California storms Ted Cruz Burns, Oregon
Well, I was smart enough today to not look at the market as it was another BAD day as China’s market shudders riled every other market in the world. While they were plunging, I had a pleasant day.
Answered emails, ran errands and wrote out the first draft of my syllabus for my class that starts on the 20th. It was actually kind of fun, if headache inducing.
Now it is evening and I have turned on the lights outside, classic jazz is playing and I think I will light a fire as it is going to be chill again tonight.
My Christmas tree is still up and I am not taking it down until Sunday. Having been gone for two weeks, I feel I deserve a little more time with it. It is a white artificial tree and I think this is its last year. But it has been a beautiful, for me, tree.
Jamison Teale, the Senior Warden at Christ Church [where I attend services] and his longtime companion, James, were married on New Year’s Day by Hudson’s first woman mayor in her first official function. They are coming for dinner on Saturday with the church’s Musical Director, Tom Martin, father to Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton of Hudson.
One of my errands today was to find them a small wedding present.
While James and Jamison married easily here in New York, the Chief Justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, Roy Moore, has ordered that state’s probate judges not issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Federal authorities immediately ordered them to do so. Some have thrown up their arms and aren’t giving marriage licenses to anyone.
Ah, Justice Moore, this has been decided. No back pedaling allowed I think.
One probate judge, Tommy Ragland, summed it up best, saying, “We have a Chief Justice who is confused.”
One of the other errands I did today was to look for a clock radio to replace my ancient one that no longer works. You know, they are rather hard to find. Not nonexistent but hard to find. I am going online to see what I can find there.
My toaster also broke and I looked at those too and thought they all looked shoddy. More investigation needed.
It is the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Let there be a moment of silence.
The French police killed a man brandishing a meat cleaver today, who was screaming “Allahu Akbar [God is Greatest].” He was wearing a fake suicide vest. That confuses me. Why bother?
Oklahoma had a swarm of 70 earthquakes yesterday. In 2013 they had a couple of hundred. In 2014 they had over 5,000. That is an exponential increase. 2015 statistics are currently being gathered. There is a suspect: fracking.
Earlier this week Netflix was available in 60 countries. Today it is in 190 countries. 130 countries “turned on” Netflix while its President and CEO was giving a speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
I’ve attended a couple and they are always mind boggling. This year is not quite so much according to pundits but still generating lots of wow.
Politics continues. Bill Clinton is stumping for Hillary in Iowa. Lots of people I know would like him back but since he can’t….
Cruz is cruising in Iowa which frightens the bejesus out of me.
California is pummeled by storms and that worries me about friends there though I hope it is helping the drought.
In Burns, Oregon the unlawful occupation of a wildlife center continues. On social media people have been asking what would be happening if the occupiers were black or Muslim instead of gun totting white guys who are outraged over Federal land policy?
There are no easy answers to anything. Kerry says that the Saudi Arabia/Iran feud will not slow down the Syrian peace process but how can it not? I mean, how can it not?
I am taking solace in the cottage and in my hope that our better angels will prevail.
Tags:Alabama gay controversy, Bill Clinton, Charlie Hebdo, Christ Church, Claverack, Fracking, Hillary Clinton, Jamison Teale, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Netflix, Obama, Oklahoma earthquakes, Reed Hastings, Roy Moore, Stock market rout, Tiffany Martin Hamilton, Tom Martin, Tommy Ragland
Posted in 2016 Election, China stock market rout, Claverack, Columbia County, Earthquakes, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Great Recession, Gun Violence, Hudson New York, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Obama, Paris Attacks, Paris Killings, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
January 6, 2016
There is a pinkish tint to the sky as I head north on the train, heading home after thirteen days of being away. The sun is beginning to set and the Hudson River flows south on my left. We have just passed Bannerman’s Castle, a munitions depot that blew up long ago on a small island in the river. Its wracked remains still stands and, sometimes, in the summers it is used to create a light show.
Bruce Thiesen, who reads my letters from time to time, commented that 2016 might test my optimism and it already has.
Yesterday, the market had a nose bleed after the Chinese market plummeted. On its way to closing, it is up modestly today but hardly enough to get anyone breaking out champagne glasses.
Donald Trump has found himself used in a recruiting tape for terrorists. He shrugs his shoulders about it, indicating there is nothing he can do about it. While he is doing nothing about it, the British Parliament is getting ready to debate whether or not they will ban The Donald from Britain.
That would be interesting. I don’t think that’s ever happened before.
The Sunni Saudi Arabian kingdom executed a leading Shia cleric and government critic. The Shia of Iran rioted and burned the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, further inflaming the Mideast.
The Iranians have announced this will not cover the crime committed by Saudi Arabia but today one of Iran’s generals condemned the attack on the Embassy.
Meanwhile, the Iranians are showing off another underground missile, likely to give conniptions to the US and some others who hoped the nuclear treaty would lessen Iranian obsessions with things military.
The US has remained silent about the executions as it needs Saudi Arabia in its fight against IS, which is mostly Sunni as are the Saudi Arabians. The Iraqi and Syrian Shia get huge abuse from IS as do any others who don’t believe as the Shia do, including Christians and others.
In Washington, President Obama has issued Executive Orders regarding gun sales while surrounded by victims of shootings, including some of the parents of children killed in Newtown.
The proposals are modest but Rand Paul has already denounced them and the NRA has called them theatrics to deflect from his failed presidency.
Anti gun advocates are gathering some big donors like former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and are working state by state to tighten gun laws.
One result of his actions will be that the gun issue is now politicized and will be sure to be a topic of debate in the 2016 elections.
Not too surprising if disheartening is that gun sales have soared since news of Obama’s actions leaked out. It is a good time to own Smith & Wesson stock I guess.
The journal Science is calling for more human computational effort in solving the world’s problems. It took only ten days for humans using a computational game to solve a protein problem associated with HIV. Let’s do more of that, say scientists. So do I.
I am now back in the cozy clutches of the cottage. Returning home, I discovered my kitchen pipes have frozen and I am working to thaw them out. Nothing, thank God, burst.
It was also forgotten by me that I left behind the detritus of my last night here. I emptied the dishwasher and reloaded it but can’t run it until the pipes thaw.
Before I left, I checked the 14 day forecast and it was all in the 40’s. That changed as it hit 4 degrees last night, the point at which the kitchen pipes freeze.
Having missed the season premiere of the last season of “Downton Abbey” I am off to catch up. It’s good to be home, more than I can tell you. Here, I feel cosseted by the comforts of my cottage and the joy it brings me.
The world outside is dangerous and it is tempting to retreat here and ignore it, I can’t.
The world exists and I must live in it. As must we all…
Tags:Amtrak, Bannerman's Castle, Bruce Theisen, Chinese Market Plunge, Donald Trump, Iran missile underground, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, NRA, Obama, Obama Executive Orders on guns, Rand Paul, Saudi Arabian Executions, Saudi Iranian tensions, Shia, Sunni, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Columbia County, Entertainment, Gun Violence, Hollywood, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mideast, Obama, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter From New York 01 24 16 Thoughts while missing Snowmaggedon
January 24, 2016Winter 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 »