Brendan Shea's Blog, page 29

The First Day of Christmas?

Listen here, look below:

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The First Day of Christmas?

Conceived, written and produced by Brendan Shea, © 2020 FitzGerald Press

Batman created by Bob Kane, Detective Comics

1966 Batman theme song by Neal Hefti

Rights currently belong to Warner Brothers and the Fox Corporation

Santa? Dude…

(Captain) America: Civil War?

It is ironic that President Trump referred to himself as the least racist president since Abraham Lincoln, not only because of the absurdity of the statement, not only because I wonder if he even sees his own bigotry (and we all are probably guilty of sin and bigotry, I ashamedly speak of myself), but because our nation seems at a point possibly unseen since the Nineteenth Century Civil War.

Am I delusional to think I was present then? No; am I claiming to be an historian? No, but it is my impression that if the election was so close (and while Democrats control the House of Representatives, the Senate race still in question and hotly contested), that our nation seems polarized, and some who bear arms seem willing to harm others without cause.

Do they bear arms to protect themselves from supposed invaders, or are they primarily self-deluded, denying that their supposed Christian values are actually prioritizing “white supremacy”? I don’t support anarchy by anyone, and I don’t want to be villified for being white, but don’t we all have sinful hearts? And didn’t we whites bring blacks from Africa?

We enslaved them, oppressed them, raped them, tortured them and killed them; and after emancipation, we continuted with that horror, and where we couldn’t, we oppressed them. Did I do these things personally? No. Did I suppport these things? No. Do they grieve me? Yes! Did I speak out against these things? Marginally, personally yes, but did I really FIGHT? Not on a grassroots level.

I just watched the new episode of Law & Order: SVU, Guardians and Gladiators, and I can’t help but think that it wouldn’t be that difficult to as a theatrical performer to act convicted when accused of what was termed, “implicit racism“, with even the African American, ‘accuser’, admitting we all struggle.

I thought the episode was telling, as there were all manner of discomforts, false accusations, true convictions, and also, misperceptions, as one caucasian defendant even took advantage of the current race ‘landscape’ by manipulation a grand jury into issuing a, “no bill“, which means his grievous felony charges were immediately and tragically dismissed.

I am ashamed of my sin, my shortcomings. I want to eradicate them. While I’m opposed to racism in all forms, I want to face the evil in me, so that God can root it out… and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free… that is my hope.

God as we know God, is the Captain: of America; the Captain of Everything. I guess I need to remember to do my part, but also to surrender.

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BlacKkKlansman

Living in Brooklyn in my twenties, the release of a new Spike Lee movie was a big deal to me, and to lots of local folks. The head of Forty Acres and a Mule productions was an up and coming director, whom industry and others were talking about.

He’d produced the NYU student film I’ve not seen, that got him on the map, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, and I’d seen, She’s Gotta Have It (strong sexual content).

The first movie of his that really floored me was School Daze. With a young Larry Fishburne (now Laurence, of course), Giancarlo Esposito, Mr. Lee, Tisha Campbell-Martin, Kyme, and many other fine actors, it gave stunning insight into the African-American experience, including to this Anglo man.

I grew up in a predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhood for six years, but School Daze was a view inside the black (collegiate) experience. Songs in the film like Straight and Nappy, and I’m Building Me a Home, were interesting as to the former, and key for me, as to the stunning spiritual fervor of the latter (said with honor and respect from a white male).

I went to the former B. Dalton Booksellers shortly after, purchased a copy of Uplift the Race: the Construction of School Daze, about the story’s journey to the big screen, and Spike was there and signed it for me. I later got to meet his sister and Mr. Fishburne, and that was a treat and a privilege, but it doesn’t make me special.

There are good guys in the film, who struggle with moral conflicts, and bad guys of whom all are twisted but one of whom seems extrememly single-minded and devoted to the Klan’s hideous, misguided mindset. One of the other key bad guys is hard to read; scarier maybe in that he seems reasonable in personality if not in practice and ethos.

The movie experience abounds with great cinematography and beautiful instrumental music, along with great songs with lyrics. Spike has been working with a lot of the same people for years, who are highly skilled, and there is strong, cohesive nature to their artistry.

The most compelling scenes to me were of Kwame Ture’s speech, the dance, and Harry Belafonte’s tragic telling of a black man falsely accused of rape. The speech shows the African American beauty and dilemma, the dance shows the beauty and the culture, and the latter, why African Americans might feel more militant about their situation while it is ignorant white Americans who are out of control.

Primary players:  as real-life Detective Ron Stallworth, Adam Driver as Detective Philip “Flip” Zimmerman, Laura Harrier as Patrice Dumas, as Jimmy Creek, Topher Grace as David Duke, Jasper Pääkkönen as Felix Kendrickson, Ryan Eggold as Walter Breachway, Paul Walter Hauser as Ivanhoe, Ashlie Atkinson as Connie Kendrickson, , Ken Garito as Sergeant Trapp, Robert John Burke as Chief Bridges, Fred Weller as Patrolman Andy Landers, Nicholas Turturro as Walker, Damaris Lewis as Ode, with a special appearance by Harry Belafonte as Jerome Turner.

-FitzGerald Press

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Two sad afterthoughts and two hopeful ones in 2020, two years after this writing and this film’s release…

It is a crime that this film was not at least nominated for best picture, though it is hard to watch the hideous nature of racism, it is moving to see the scene in which Kwame Ture speaks of the black experience. As a white man, I cannot understand, but as a man, I can feel pain and guilt and sorrow. Too many black lives have been lost since this film was made, and while Ture spoke of arming for a race war, the only evidence I’ve seen of what would be terrible, is the arming of many in white America and the killing of many African Americans; these are descendants of people we TOOK from their homeland and then tried to keep down in our own country.



Biden and Harris believe in unityGod has no race and no party



I am just an ignorant white man, but I believe we are a skin kaliedoscope. God help us allI’m glad Biden/Harris wonI hope there will be a peaceful and sensible transfer of powerIt’s sad that while Biden/Harris won very decisively, that so many people voted for Trump

Dance With My Father

(I never got this chance; maybe many others; a bit jealous but not in a mean way I hope; thanks so much to this writer for sharing)

M. Zeeshan Horani

Back when I was a child

Before life removed all the innocence

My father would lift me high

And dance with my mother and me

And then spin me around ’til I fell asleep

Then up the stairs he would carry me

And I knew for sure

I was loved

If I could get another chance

Another walk, another dance with him

I’d play a song that would never, ever end

How I’d love, love, love

To dance with my father again

If I could steal one final glance

One final step, one final dance with him

I’d play a song that would never, ever end

‘Cause I’d love, love, love

To dance with my father again

Courtesy:

Saifur Rehman Minhas

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Hancock Revisited

I don’t know that this is Will Smith’s signature role. I would have to recall Seven Pounds, The Pursuit of Happyness, Men in Black, MIB3, Concussion, Ali (which I still need to see), and of course, Hitch. I din’t originally enjoy Hancock, with its intentionally jerky camera work, offbeat story and a tale of love’s labors lost, but on my recent reencounter, I found Hancock thoroughly enjoyable.

Alcoholic, angry and depressed, Hancock seems like Hitch on an especially bad day; maybe Brenneman made good, but Hitch missed the boat, and is trying to make sense of things. Seeing as how he has superpowers and loves his work, he’s making a right mess of his crime fighting opportunities by presenting as a really bad case of, “Hulk-Smash”.

[image error] John Hancock & Ray Embrey

Enter ever-likeable Jason Bateman, only outdone by his crushworthy sister, Justine. Bateman is a PR executive who takes on the client-challenge of a lifetime in Hancock. Gorgeous Charlize Theron is Bateman’s wife, who makes a mean spaghetti, and has some interesting attitudes. The core cast is rounded out with Jae Head, who also played a loveable kid in The Blind Side.

I’ll call Hancock a “film”, not a “movie”, contrary to my earlier impressions due to heavy CGI and continual action; like the Bible, or even fiction, something encountered a second or multiple times may find the palate a changed one. As a film, Hancock plays some interesting notes; these I find fascinating, if somewhat sad.

…or perhaps his surrender is his real superpower.

[image error] The guy I needed to stick up for me as a kid



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I’ve just seen a face but I forget

Today, I watched a movie I’d seen before.

I didn’t realize until after it began.

The film unfolded before my eyes.

Luminescent was she but kinder still.

Ever did I know but never recall.

Oh, how I wanted to be there.

For I knew I’d heard the song ere now.

Tis the peg o’ my heart, could be?

Hear me now, do you, God?

Ee’n still would grant time to match?

More would I be in this second.

Or not so much in the past.

Virtue would bring past to fore.

I’d keep from jumping ahead.

Ever to be here with you.

The Indomitable Diana Rigg

I grew up watching The Avengers. Not the Marvel movies, though I read the comic loyally. Not the later movie with Ralph Fiennes & the lovely Uma Thurman. The original series, with the late Patrick Macnee and the ravishing Diana Rigg, who passed away earlier this month.

[image error] Issue 150 of the Marvel Comic/1998 Peel & Steed/Rigg & Macnee

The series was created by Sydney Newman, Albert Fennell, Brian Clemens and Julian Wintle. David Keel (Ian Hendry) was the initial protagonist with John Steed (Patrick Macnee) assisting, but Steed was the mainstay of The Avengers, and best known are he and Rigg as Steed & Mrs. Peel.

[image error] The 1965-1968 Stars of The Avengers

Honor Blackman was the first female to star opposite Macnee, as Cathy Gale, but after three seasons, Ms. Blackman moved on to star with Sean Connery in his third Bond outing, Goldfinger. Enter Rigg as Mrs. Peel, whose husband was missing in Africa, and paired with Steed, they made television history. Rigg moved on later, to star opposite George Lazenby in their Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service:

[image error] Chatting offset with Lazenby

I’m not sure I can think of any TV series where a replacement character/actor entered that far in and was soon thought of by many as the only one Steed rode with. She played in many other great roles, and I watched her host Masterpiece Mystery after Vincent Price passed away, but I guess I’ll always think of her with Macnee.

[image error] The Second Host of Masterpiece Mystery

Here are some other favorite photos:

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[image error] In Game of Thrones



[image error] Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg DBE

I would also like to read her collection of what is said to be the worst theatrical reveiews ever, I heard she was liked well beyond her sex appeal, and am sorry she is gone. There are plenty of interesting modern shows, but for many of us who grew up years’ ago, these clever and fun older shows meant a lot and always will.

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The New Math?

I saw a strange but fascinating movie as a young man; I may have been a little young to view it, but view it I did. It was called The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, and was a Sherlock Holmes story. I love mysteries, and ‘Conan Doyle’s master sleuth is certainly no exception.

At that age, I surely noticed the movie depicted the great detective’s drug woes, but figure I had no idea the title referred to cocaine, as I was slow to grasp such things, despite growing up in a society fraught with substance abuse. My reliance on medications probably kept me from drug addiction, as I hate drugs but have to take them.

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution starred Nicol Williamson, Robert Duvall, Alan Arkin, Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Laurence Olivier, as Holmes, Watson, Freud, Lola Devereaux, and Moriarty, respectively. As Holmes investigates Devereaux’s disappearance, Freud tries to solve Holmes’ cocaine addiction.

I researched the movie’s title 44 years after seeing it in the theater at age 9. There seems to be no evidence of any such solution akin to the film’s title. Holmes was cutting the substance with 93 percent of something else seemingly harmless, but I’m against drug use, and don’t want to provide adverse, “education”, by elaborating.

The film was exciting, but there might be more edifying topics to watch, not sure; I haven’t seen it since it was released in 1976. Writer/Director Nicholas Meyer penned this tale, and also helmed other past favorites, notably, Time After Time, a Wellsian time-travel yarn, and some of the best, original-cast Star Trek films.

What does 28% relate to? With 9 years in blogging, we have a very small, boutique1 following, but one that I am very proud of and grateful for. In our 9th year, we have added followers equaling 28% of our entire readership, ‘end of 2019. So, nothing to do with cocaine, more to do with loyal fans who check in to read now and then.

FitzGerald Press seems to have grown this year at approximately four times its average rate heretofore. That would bring a cocaine-languished 7 percent, to a more robust, 28 percent.

The number 7 is the perfect number in numerology, and I’m not detracting by any means, but I love basketball, so I’ll take a double-double anytime (4); this is what we call in the entertainment industry, “The New Math”2

Curried Pork?

Hi Readers, I hope you are well. For us USA peoples, we have:

Time Left to Election Day:

3DAYS 12HOURS 37MINUTES 04SECONDS as of this writing, to determine who will mete out the pork bellies, a la Trading Places

Tell Me Why The Road Turned

I hope that Prince is resting in peace.

It’s time to put to death my, “old man”, not my father, but my immature child self. The two preceding are slightly interrelated, but predominantly two unconnected statements. Here is some irony I found in a song I recalled that Prince released, 30 years before his death. He practically wrote his own eulogy:

I don’t know if Prince is talking about his friend or about himself; I was inclined to think the latter, because the film the song is from relates to the character he played; there are sexual implications in the song that I do not intend to convey;

I am heterosexual, but no judgment intended either. Also, the song is perhaps ambiguous on its message in that regard, and I don’t know what Prince was about on that either. I am focusing on two facts:

The subject of the song reflected that we miss good things without hindsight.The character died in April, the same month that Prince did.

Born: June 7, 1958, Minneapolis, MN

Died: April 21, 2016, Paisley Park, Chanhassen, MN

Sometimes It Snows In April

Ah
Ah
Ah
Oh, oh
Do
Um da da, ah

Tracy died soon after a long fought civil war
Just after I’d wiped away his last tear
I guess he’s better off than he was before
A whole lot better off than the fools he left here

I used to cry for Tracy ’cause he was my only friend Those kind of cars don’t pass you every day
I used to cry for Tracy ’cause I wanted to see him again
But sometimes, sometimes life ain’t always the way

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish life was never ending
And all good things, they say, never last

Springtime was always my favorite time of year
A time for lovers holding hands in the rain
Now springtime only reminds me of Tracy’s tears
Always cry for love, never cry for pain

He used to say so strong, oh unafraid to die
Unafraid of the death that left me hypnotized
No, staring at his picture I realized
No one could cry the way my Tracy cried

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad
Sometimes, sometimes I wish that life was never ending
And all good things, they say, never last

I often dream of heaven and I know that Tracy’s there
I know that he has found another friend
Maybe he’s found the answer to all the April snow
Maybe one day I’ll see my Tracy again

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending
But all good things, they say, never last

All good things they say, never last
And love, it isn’t love until it’s past

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Prince Rogers Nelson / Lisa Coleman / Wendy Melvoin

Sometimes It Snows In April lyrics

© Universal Music Publishing Group

Missing you Lyrics: Lionel Richie; Performed by: Diana Ross

Night Shift Lyrics: Golde/Lambert/Orange; Performers: The Commodores

People Get Ready Lyrics: Curtis Mayfield; sung here by Kevin Max Smith

[image error] Prince Rogers Nelson Image By Jeff Katz via DeepArt.io



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