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.