A Kinder and Gentler Christianity

I was out shopping for Christmas this morning and early afternoon. Other than a Muslim store clerk wishing me a Merry Christmas I stopped by the Salvation Army kettle. The young bell ringer sang me a song he had made up to thank people who donated. These two acts I must admit warmed my heart. In four days I have a grandchild due , so perhaps I am in a more receptive mood. But then I come home , watch the news , and the same crap comes over my TV. God , what a nasty political season , coming from candidates who profess their spiritual credentials often. Got to get those conservative votes. Not quite the sound I remember from my childhood memories of church. Ones that spoke of love & tolerance and the ever elusive peace. So , for Christmas I wish one thing for my fellow citizens..........A KINDER AND GENTLER CHRISTIANITY for the coming year and oh what the hell coming decade for that matter.

Somewhere on the Verge of a New Era

Somewhat of a pompous title for this blog. But last night when I got up because I could not get to sleep something glanced past my mind as I addressed a couple of Christmas Cards. Things seemed so out of whack....our economy , our politics both overseas and domestic seems so angry and unable to find solutions. News reports how broke The Salvation Army is and how great their requests for assistance. Maybe my mind came up with something.....just maybe we are at a tipping point. The time when something new is being arranged within society. This years TIME Man of the Year was The Protester whether the Middle East or downtown London or near the financial district in NYC people demonstrated just how pissed off they are at the current status of our civil and corporate lives. People in the so called Tea Party actually would agree with some of the agenda of the Occupy Movement. Something may be happening but what I am not quite sure. Whether it leads to a betterment or a more bitter society I do not know. What I do know is I want a few more years to see where this past year may lead to. Be Seeing You.

RIP: Chris Hitchens

We lost an acid tongue pundit today. I saw him speak at the 72nd Y a couple of years ago. Though an original Brit he became a comfortable American as far as being here atleast. I read many of his political articles , saw him on W.F. Buckley's show and Chris Matthews show. He was as much a showman as political commentator. Direct and entertaining. Though I am sure The Royal Family with not be sending condolences many on both the left and right are this morning. Whether he spoke of Iraq or what he called the cult of Churchill his view was welcome in my home. He was not a cheap pundit the way so many are today. Oh and by the way he was equally at home talking Hamlet or PG Wodehouse. That is now a rare commodity. So to end with a quote from a favored TV series of his from the sixties......BE SEEING YOU.

Winston Churchill : Birthday Today

Today marks the birthday of Winston Churchill. Born in 1874. When I think of England the Beatles come to mind or the BBC or James Bond. So why do I bring up Sir Winston. Perhaps it stems from a simple fact that modern politics is so often a race to the bottom. Bad mouthing the poor for fun , profit and political advantage is so common a theme in American politics as an example. Where is the thinking behind a great or important decision. Probably does not poll well to seem to smart in a campaign , dim witted , gets more votes , atleast it appears that way in America and maybe even places like London. So for a man who had a difficult time in school , Winston thanks for continuing to learn and make those difficult decisions. It really matters. Also thanks for that great quote.....never give up , never ever ever ever give up.

Beware the Sign of The Saint ....He Will Be Back

A few months ago I published a blog talking about the new The Saint series that seemed on the horizon. Well since I have received my second highest # of hits on this blog I wish to add an update. The production has been delayed , reworking of scripts , a financing problem which has been resolved from what I understand. Not sure if James Purefoy is on board still but all actors are replaceable. Anyway , my SAG actress daughter tells me from what she knows there is interest from multiple outlets. So........patience I believe will be rewarded in the end for fans of this venue. With a number of talented people working on it a retelling of the Templar tales will be forthcoming.

The Comfort in 007

I am recovering from recent surgery so I have read a great deal in the past week or so. Carte Blanche , the newest James Bond novel has been a favorite. It has also been reported that the new Bond movie , Skyfall , has started filming. 007 has been there all my life for all intents and purposes. From the books to the films a reasonably steady flow , from my early years to my high school years and beyond. From the cold war to various smaller hot wars , political upheaval , social upheaval , weddings , funerals , graduations , careers......life. The number of dates I took young ladies to see a Bond flick , the number of times I watched Connery or Brosnan say Bond .....James Bond. It has been a steady adventure and I find it in an odd way.....comforting........something that has not gone the way of say vinyl records. My past self and my older being merge and I enjoy that. The continuity some of us need. Keeps me a younger man I guess.

The Word Hippies

I wish to say quite simply but firmly that I am sick of people especially news people using the word HIPPY ! Hippies have not really been around since appx circa 1967 or 1968. They evolved or devolved long ago. Most young people who use the term do not really know what a Hippy really was and adults who use it are generally using it a term of derision. So......Owen Bennett Jones of the BBC or Brian Williams of NBC and everyone else in between find another term......it is a vague , rather useless term.

Happy Birthday Roger Moore

Born on this date in 1927 Roger Moore was born. The thing about actors such as Moore is they have been with me all my life. As a young kid he was Ivanhoe on TV.....graduated to The famous Simon Templar on The Saint during the 60's. Brett Sinclair on the Persuaders with Tony Curtis. Of course his great repeat role......that of Bond .....James Bond. A real cradle to grave actor you might say. I remember taking a young attractive lady out on a date many years ago. I took her to an early movie and dinner. The movie was Moonraker. At dinner she commented over drinks that she did not understand why James Bond movies had been around so long. She found them rather simplistic and if you have seen one you have seen them all. Didn't work out between us. So Roger thanks for the movies and TV shows. You have not been a bad companion to bring along on this life of mine.

Nobody's Fool.: My Movie review

Tonight on HBO I watched again Nobodies Fool starring the now gone Paul Newman. It was dedicated to Jessica Tandy. I have a true liking for this film. The reason is simple other than I simply enjoyed it as a nice simple film and character study. It was filmed mainly in the Hudson River Valley. Dutchess County , Hudson NY and Beacon are among the filming sites. I grew up north of these places but I know the buildings , characters , the feel of the movie even if it is a work of fiction. I feel at home even though I no longer live there. It seems less fiction because I can all most feel myself or a moment of myself in that film. I am somewhere walking a street or sitting at the bar. Such is the Hudson Valley , it's beauty , it's decline and it's remaining strength. It's nice to feel at home. It's interesting to again be around people I once knew and are so often now gone. Maybe a little home sick.

Bad Habits My Old Heros Left Behind

Well I am back from minor cancer surgery. My own fault I knew cigarettes were unhealthy. In the recovery room trying to wake up a strange notion overcame me.......James Bond , Simon Templar , Lord Peter Whimsy , The Thin Man , Sam Spade , Peter Gunn and of course the great grand daddy Sherlock himself to name a few all smoked. How dumb for me to have followed. Smoking and detecting seems atleast in the old days so linked. Time to stop.

Qaddafi : Despot Soon Gone

Well in 2 days I turn 60. No big deal , feel 41.2 yrs old. Anyway as I comb news sources like the BBC World Service much attention is being given and rightly so to the fall of Mohammar Qaddafi. The long running despot of Libya. To show you how long the man has been around I was in my second week of my high school senior year when he came to power so long ago. He has remained through college, marriage , kids , career etc. A shadow of the desert. On my desk is an old Pan Am ashtray a relic of airlines past. Lockerbie Scotland is where many people come across the old airline name. I still remember the day it was blown out of the sky from a Qaddafi inspired bomber. But as I watch the revolt and joy on the streets of Libya his greatest crime as with all despots is the repression of the souls of a people. The scar that can remain over generations. Repression. So as I watch his shadow begin to fade I will actually have a happier birthday......for ding dong the despot's dead.

The Guy from Upstate

So here I on sit at 11509....in the middle of down state New York. Well , I wasn't born here. I am an upstater. Albany New York area to be exact. By downstate terms I am a have not as opposed to being a have.....meaning I can't possibly be as urbane and smart as them. As I kid I grew up on a farm ........worked some summers on my aunt and uncle's dairy farm during Haying Season. That's right I helped bail hay. I think I am the better for it. Small town lifestyle and the whole lot. But as a teenager I did long for a bigger life.....away from small town America. Watched TV shows like The Saint , saw movies like Goldfinger and wanted something more from watching that model. To be educated with a drink and a smoke and of course a good looking car. I got all that and more though I deeply regret the smokes. After observing these well off people in lets face it a fairly segregated part of the world I have discovered something interesting. Some of my role models were better than theirs. The Saint or Bond treated many lesser people with honor. He wasn't rude to waiters like a couple were dining near me last evening. Many around here have little sense of how much of the world functions. I do and at this point in my life find that to be one of my accomplishments that I actually feel proud of. Sorry if I boast. I am a proud upstate guy with all my hick elements still somewhere there within me. I am a guy from upstate and probably in one way or another always will be.

Waiting for the Brains to Come Back Home.

As I write I have just come back from the beach. It's August. I have taken a news break over the last couple of weeks. Just sick of the news. Most everyone in The Civilized World ....what ever that is.....has been on vacation or will be. Atleast in some form summer changes everything. But Stock Market plunges and riots in England along with general American dysfunction in our political arena has caused me to pause. The Prime Minister of England has returned from his Villa in Italy along with good old Boris Johnson , blond mayor of London to appear to quell the riots within London and other cities. The President goes on TV to attempt to ease the crises feel to the economy. Some say he may call back Congress into session to deal with our economy. My advice........enjoy your summer. As August begins to end Europoe slowly begins to return home......half of Europe shuts down for this month. America hits it's Labor Day and prepares it's self for a return to some normal routine. Our Brains shift into the more serious. Right now ....enjoy. Feel the warm sun and the breezes , time away from work and school. We will be serious enough soon enough. Better to be serious when you are slightly more sane after a summers rest.

As The Sun Sets on The News Of The World

The sun never sets on the Rupert Murdock Empire. As scandal besets an old newspaper and they print their last edition and Rupert himself lands in London to take charge of the scandal of phone hacking and payoffs let me say........he has more where that came from. Including Fox News Cable Network in this country. My son in law writes for the Utica New York Newspaper , of which I am proud. I believe that one of the harms of this scandal reaches even into upstate NY. Trust......another nickel of trust has been taken away. Newspapers have always had a point of view a determination to seek their own identity. Mistrust of the fourth estate is nothing new. Murdock by this scandal has allowed news to become the bastards of the slimy hand again. You damage my family , neighborhood , the newspaper in my home this Sunday morning. Another crack in brickwall I have had in my life. The wall that keeps thoughtful consideration alive in my family and town and yes country.

A Moment of Silence

In my last blog I spoke of Peter Falk having passed on. A small side article in a local paper caught my attention soon after that. At Ossining High School at their graduation ceremony they had a moment of silence for their former graduate. If the kids knew of him at all it was from Princess Bride the movie. But you know it got me thinking , sometimes some of the best tributes may indeed be a simple moment of silence. Silence to think your own thoughts , feel whatever it is to feel. Let a passing be noticed by it's lack of noise. Probably I have been in over a thousand moments of silence in my life. I like the practice for the famous and non. From a 9/11 person lost to a well thought of teacher. A respectful moment. As my final example I will bring up Peter Sellers again from a previous blog I wrote. About 2 months after he died , the obits all written , fellow actors interviewed etc , there was one more tribute. His free Mason Lodge in Chelsey England stood after the opening of the lodge for that year. They stood in silence for their passing brother. Alas my brother. Sometimes , moments , quick and quiet moments keep you much more alive.

RIP Peter Falk

Well Peter Falk died today.....there are not many of the old style detectives of legend left. Falk as Columbo with his rumpled trench coat , his notebook and old odd car. All disguise his razor sharp observation skills that would eventually topple the arrogant murderer. That is what I think made this character so popular. He brought down the arrogant and always politely. "There is just this one thing that is bothering me" as he would say in that all most apologetic way of his character. He of course did other things in his career , movies such as The Great Race or Murder by Death. But like a Sean Connery as Bond or Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther movies you usually make your first mental stop at a favored character. Falk will be Detective Colombo and he enriched this character as few could. Like Leo McKern as Rumpole it is hard to see anyone else as that character. RIP , Det. Colombo and RIP Peter Falk.

Peter Sellers : Still In My Brain After All These Years

Next month will be the 31st anniversary of the death of Peter Sellers. British comedian , actor and from what I have read and heard about him , a pain in the ass. Still made me laugh though. I remember this date because he died on my honeymoon. The news was on in my hotel lobby as I walked by when this story was on the news. The only TV I payed attention to that week. Peter Sellers , Monty Python , Spike Mulligan etc. We sometimes have been trained to believe that major events shape us , form our minds , direct us towards our destiny. Sometimes. At other times it really is people that make us laugh that shape our slant on the world. How we react , sometimes is best done by comedy. I remember a number of yrs ago my director was sitting at the conference table on a rant. After five goddamn minutes of his verbal bombast a Peter moment entered my brain. I wrote a note to the person next to : reminds me of Dr. Strangelove ! He understood. So I write this in way of caution......beware of what comedy you follow.....it may be the next biochemical trigger you create in that brain of yours.

Palin In Gettysburg Memorial Day Refusal 5/2011

OK , I know rumors abound in the political world. But I had a conversation last night with an old associate who is involved with The National Park Service and general politics. I will keep their name out but they gave me such an interesting tidbit I just had to share. Sarah Palin who my political instincts still say is not running for President is about to embark on a bus tour. From her initial stop over at Memorial Day's Rolling Thunder event to next a tour of Civil War Battlefields of Antiedum and Gettsburg. She heading towards New Hampshire. Guess Why. Anyway now for my rumor. She and her team while in the planning stages of the tour requested to the Eisenhower Family & The Park Service permission to place a wreath on Ike's farm adjoining the Battlefield. She would have had press and TV news with her. Her memorial day tribute to Ike the General and the President.Which I find somewhat remarkable as she is one of the POLS who have worked so hard to close down the moderate wing of her party. Put simply she was turned down Flat. Especially from the Eisenhower family themselves who also refused to appear there with her. I know just a tidbit but I find it an interesting tidbit all the same. Have a Peaceful Memorial Day.

Some More Coded Stuff

For those of you that liked my last kind of coded offering here for you is a little more. A slight gateway to another era. The last one is the toughest , hint Sex in the City.

1. KAR 120C
2. NUV 647E
3. # 3 Equity Court
4. 299 DeKalb

The Closed Maderate Wing of America

Lets face a simple truth......the moderate wing of the Republican Party has been closed since Nelson Rockefeller died in the saddle. Slowly our politics have become an obstacle course of litmus tests as to how to think........funded very well by such personalities as the Coke Brothers. The liberal parts of the political spectrum has had their own media money people.....Trust Me......Wall Street is more left wing than one would presume. Their money has funded many a democrat. How political life has changed since I graduated High School. So for the often desired moderate voter , often put aside in the post election massage of ones political base , what can you be offered as hope for a hint of sane logic return. Or at least a decent measure of deficit minded , medicare fixing , science respecting , capital responsibility. What hope can this simple country blogger give you. This..............ready.................People Die.That's right.....since I first began to pay attention to politics in say my junior year of high school most of those people are dead. Nixon , Johnson , Hudson , Ford, Kennedy , Wm F. Buckley , Wallace , Rayburn , Goldwater , Reagan , Eisenhower , O'Neil , etc etc etc. The large and small eventually leave this earth. Marx died and so did Adam Smith. Future generations roll on and a surprising few look back all that much. Republicans don't mention Eisenhower , Democrats , rarely Johnson. So for the ego driven "Pol" of whatever pole of a political philosophy one sits on. Whatever future you think you or your ideas have shaped , remember , you are only mortal and often so are your political positions and even parties.

The Night the P1800 Died

Well after recently blogging about Simon Templar I will tell a quick story about the car Roger Moore used while playing The Saint in the 1960's. I and a couple of friends took some time this week to take a bike tour of the Gettysburg battlefield. After a 4 hour tour of a place of former carnage we that evening settled down to a dinner and a few beers. As guys do stories were told and one of the discussions was cars. So my P1800 Volvo was brought up. So here is my story. I was young in 1976 , out of college and working in the Albany NY area. I had some money from a recently departed Uncle. God rest his soul. I needed a car and as my college car had seen much better days I went out looking. And there she was a 1966 Volvo p 1800 being sold by an owner near where I lived. As I said I was young , and could lust after internal combustion and a beautiful design. The car Roger Moore drove as The Saint on the long running TV program. This was the obtainable sports car and I looked past any potential problems. I bought it in mid August. Put a couple of hundred in some repairs. Drove the rest of the summer away into early fall. A little smoke out the back was ignored. Just put in a heavier weight oil. Then that Friday night in late October. I agreed to meet a couple of older friends for dinner. I was to meet a friend of theirs , female. Lets face it........A BLIND DATE. We met at Jacks Oyster House in downtown Albany. Overall , not a bad night. Really. Potential seemed in the air. So we stayed late , after midnight. It became a chilly evening. To be honest I had one to many scotches. So I left that night with a phone number and a little to much cockiness and a cold car. I started her {the car}. Revved her up and pulled out heading for home. The radio was on loud , to loud to listen for trouble. I hit the interstate at about 60 mph. I went up the ramp went over the bridge and crossed the Hudson River heading east. I then reached over and flicked on the coolest feature of the car. The electric 5th gear overdrive. I believe I loosened my tie and unbottoned my shirt collar. Turned up the radio , Beatles tune. Was not listening for the probably increasing noise that was no doubt coming from the engine. I was speeding , up around 80 , feeling overly self confident. Good week at work , good Friday night end , probably a little to good. Suddenly a muffled bang that I even heard. What the hell was that. Radio off......this is not good at all. Even though my love affair was about to end I just wanted to deny it . Anyway , got a tow to my usual garage. Diagnosis on Monday...........thrown a rod. It was over. I went on to other cars and as fate would have it other girls. The memories remain , cue The Saint Theme music this story is over.

Simon Templar Returns For Real This Time 2011

Just a quick note , James Purefoy after a long delay has agreed to play The Saint. The new TV movie will start filming in New Orleans , July 2011. Purefoy will in this blogger's humble opinion handle this role quite well. The sophistication , hard edged , violent nature and lets not forget the sense of humor are suited well for Purefoy. Hopefully a gem in the reality soup of today's media.