Where The Crawdads Sing.

 I’ve seen what I think are Oscar Contenders this year and it’s not even November/December when they are eagerly trying to get their films in under the wire to be in on Oscar eligibility. So far I’ve seen Death On The Nile and Elvis and this film. 

So my 3rd Oscar contender is this film. Great story, with a fantastic plot twist at the end. Where the Crawdads Sing. Great performances throughout by not easily recognizable faces. That’s what I liked; it wasn’t the usual blah blah blah. I couldn’t tell you who any of the actors were. Just like back in the day who is that guy playing Michael in The Godfather? And that made this fresh for me. 

It actually stars Daisy Edgar Jones as the "Marsh Girl." And there's a good guy Tate played by Taylor John Smith, and a bad guy played by Harris Dickerson. But perhaps the greatest performance was David Strathairn as Marsh Girl Clark's attorney. Reminesent of Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. Daisy Edgar Marsh deserved this major break and now she's off and running. We are going to see her a lot from now on. David Strathairn was amazing. You've seen him dozens of times before in stuff like Delores Claiborne and A League of Their Own, and he's always good, but he did a fantastic job here. 

The characters were developed nicely here and certainly with Daisy Edgar Jones. She had others playing the character early in the characters life but it is Jones who really fleshes out the character. When she meets the Taylor John Smith character we knew he was the good guy but then we are subjected to his letting her, and us, down on the 4th of July. Then there is the Harris Dickerson character who we thought was good but secretly knew was not the good guy he tried to portray himself as. And as I've indicated, David Strathairn gives an inspired performance even when the woman he's defending doesn't want him to. 

For fear of any kind of spoiler that is all I’ll say. But for fear it’s a chick flick it’s not. Reminded me a little of my second favorite film of all time, To Kill A Mockingbird. 

Just a heads up if you’re thinking of going to the movies but don’t know what to see. 

Grade: A-

The Jeopardy Conspiracy

Over the weekend James Holzhauer the recent most exciting champion on Jeopardy!, sent out a tweet that many think had a cryptic meaning. He tweeted something about Andrew Luck, the pro quarterback who has opted for early retirement. Holzhauer tweeted something like it must be sorrowful to reach the pinnacle of one's career and find it isn't that satisfying. The Jeopardy! conspiracy theorists read into the tweet to think Holzhauer is talking about himself and that he through his 32 day run on purpose, making Emma Boettcher the most hated Jeopardy Champion ever.

None of the theory is true. First of all Holzhauer is a competitive guy and would never through a game on purpose. Secondly he was one more game away from breaking Ken Jennings regular season winnings record in half the time. Holzhauer made roughly 2.5 million and was only $58,484 behind the Jennings record. No way was he willing to stop at that point.

Here's what actually happened. First of all Emma had also read the book about using the buzzer and therefore became a quick with it as Holzhauer was. So James as reigning champion and he started off the round. He always started on the bottom of the board and when he took his pick it was the Daily Double. Bad Luck. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. He couldn't make any money on a Daily Double. This was a huge set-back. So he went on to get through the round ahead of Emma but she kept pace because her buzzer skills were equal to his.

In the second round James was gaining a nice lead but then Emma got the first Daily Double. Another set back. My heart began to sink. This caused Emma to go outside of her playing sense [as evidenced by her following two days play], and she had to bet much much bigger than she ever wanted to. She got within striking distance. Play continued and James played well but I could tell he was becoming more down by his luck this show. And then as they continued to go, the crushing blow fell. She got the other Daily Double. She bet bigger than she would like and was ahead, and there wasn't enough money left on the board to James get the lead back before the end of Double Jeopardy.

Final Jeopardy began with James having a total of $23,400, Emma with $26,600. I had to ignore the third player, but he wasn't in this match really. Final Jeopardy Category - Shakespearean Literature. So here was the Final Jeopardy clue: "The line 'a great reckoning in a little room' in 'As You Like It' is usually taken to refer to this author's premature death."

 The answer/question was "Who was Christopher Marlowe?" The third player got it right. And so did James, but he wagered a mere $1,399 bringing his total to $24,799. The crowd gasped. Emma also got it right [as would any person who has ever seen the film Shakespeare In Love], and as James would later say he predicted, she wagered $20,201 ensuring that she could beat an all in wager by Holzhauer. She wins easily.

This was a classic case of just bad luck. From the picking the Daily Double right off the bat, to her getting both Daily Doubles in the second round, and her betting big when she didn't want to, and her having read the most effective way to use the buzzer on and on. Just good luck for her, bad luck for Jimmy. Had James been able to run the bottom row before hitting the Daily Double, Emma would never have caught him.

This was not James tossing the match. As much as I and everyone else in the country hated it and that Chicago Librarian, he just ran into a rash of bad luck. As far as I was concerned everyone in the country that knew who Shakespeare was and had at least seen the aforementioned movie.

After all, he did say that in the course of his day job - professional sports gambler - he had lost $25,000 once.

The 2017 Oscars for the year 2016.

There was a monumental screw up and a grave injustice done Sunday night at the Oscars on February  26th, 2017. Okay there were at least two.

First, there was the total inept screw up at announcing Best Picture.

This was a ceremony of historic insults to black artists. Last year they were ignored by the Oscars. It became a real touchstone topic, so this year the the Academy changed the rules to further disrespect and discredit black folks. Let me just clear this up you racist ignorant Academy. There were more nominations of black artists this year because the product got much greater. Not because you lowered the bar somehow. You don't need to lower the bar for black artists. That is an insult. Just recognize the work they do. And when it rises above the fray, acknowledge that.

One way to easily avoid this dilemma is to simply fill all ten Best Picture categories. Fill all 10 and it would easily give a better cross section of the films, and they will undoubtedly get a better cross section of the best films.

So back to the screw ups. Price Waterhouse, the acclaimed accounting firm who gets all the Academy votes, controls the envelopes. So out of the two folks they sent to hand out the envelopes, one of the people to hand the envelopes to the presenters was so preoccupied sending out Tweets that he handed Warren Beatty the wrong envelope. Instead of getting Best Picture, he got Best Actress. When he opened the envelope, and it read Emma Stone for La La Land, he got confused and read her movie La La Land. The entire cast and crew of La La Land make their way onstage before the people come running out shouting there has been a mistake!

One of the folks from La La Land calls out to the Moonlight people, "hey Moonlight you won best picture. This isn't a joke. You are best movie." And then he held up the card for the camera to see.

That was one monumental screw up. The other was that Price Waterhouse has announced that neither of those two envelope presenters will ever be back there. That seems to be totally unfair to the woman who did nothing wrong in the execution of her duties. So this would be the second screw up. Punishing one for what the other did.

Anyway, in a year of historic happenings, Moonlight won Best Picture.

The 2016 Oscars.

For two years in a row, no Black actors have been nominated for any of the important Oscars. Chris Rock was the host for the 2016 Oscars and he didn't shy away from the recent uproar about this apparent slight. He was subtle, but effective in his opening monologue pointing out that if people really insist on seeing black folks recognized every year they should have separate categories. He pointed out that they already kind of have needless separateness by separating men and women into different categories. Great point Chris. As he pointed out, this isn't Track and Field.

Although many black actors over the years have won these awards, I guess two years in a row was the "what the?..." point. But this is a tricky one. Why? Because if somebody wins an obligatory Oscar just because they're black, that kind of diminishes the Oscars thus far earned by other wonderful black actors. But some wonderful black artists were ignored this year. So how do we fix this?

One way is very obvious. The Academy has expanded their Best Picture list to 10 possible contenders. Hold them to that. There MUST be Ten entries. If they would have done this, maybe "Straight Out Of Compton" would have been on the list.  Actually the other categories should also be expanded to at least 8 possibles.

But I hope the Academy never develops Black categories. I can still hear George Wallace saying "Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, and Segregation forever!" ringing in my ears. Let's just expand the acting, screenwriting, and other categories to 8 and have a mandatory filling of all 10 Best Picture slots, as well as Best Director slots, and I am betting that black folks will be way more represented.

I certainly hope that the Academy didn't cringe, and think "Well, we'll never hire Chris Rock to host again." I hope they listened to what he said, and take it to heart. And let him host again next year. That would look tremendous. But if you have a white person host next year, you'll get what you deserve.

And I refuse to call Black Americans "African-American." It's diminishing and degrading and shame on you if you use this term. I am going with Smokey Robinson on this one. So be a hater if you must, but I will never buy into this one.

Grow some depth Academy.

I already have a lot of problems taking a lot of snobby millionaires who all get dressed up and after doing the easiest job ever and all patting each other on the back and giving each other gold statues and getting incredible swag bags at the ultimate "Aren't We Great?" party seriously. I don't even watch the Oscars any more. And I can't even imagine how Robin Roberts was drooling over these idiots went. Sickening I'm betting.

Expand and fill the categories Academy! All your troubles will go away.

If I Died Tonight

Sometimes we all get a little down. Our lives seem boring. It seems like life is passing us by. But I was thinking a while ago, that I should be grateful for the time I've had.

I have great parents that provided for me the perfect childhood. They are simple people and we were middle class, but my Dad, although uneducated was very wise and understood how to make a little money a lot of money. They always pushed us in the right direction. Although my Dad was the youngest of 6, I was the first grandchild of his parents to get any kind of degree. My brother got the first Bachelor Degree. I and both my siblings all have Bachelor Degrees now. We are the only ones of all 27 grandchildren of the above mentioned grandparents to have Bachelor Degrees.

And a great childhood is not all that common. I was once at a training session designed to teach us how to be Substance Abuse Counselors. They asked "How many people here had a normal childhood?" I put my hand in the air. And then I slowly looked around. Mine was the only hand in the air. The guy asked me, "So you had a normal childhood?" As I looked around I answered, "Apparently not."

So I had that. But beyond that I have the love of a great woman. I have four wonderful kids. I am so lucky.

And in this crazy life I have:

I have been in movies, I have seen the Mona Lisa, I have stood in the shadow of Big Ben, I've been to the top of Pike's Peak, I drove the length of Route 66 (twice) when it still was actually Route 66, I stood on the top of the Eiffel Tower, I was in the studio and saw The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, I have seen the St. Louis Arch, I have been to Graceland, I have been in a hot air balloon, I have read "To Kill A Mockingbird", and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," I have been in 11 countries, I have been to the Civil War battlefields Gettysburg, Shiloh, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville, I've seen the Cubs play in Wrigley Field, I've been to Appomattox where the surrender was signed, I've seen the VietNam Wall, I've been to the Lincoln Memorial, I've stood and gazed at the Hollywood sign, I've toured the White House, I have gone through The Christmas Story House, I have been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame five times, I have been to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. I have been to FBI headquarters. and seen the top ten most wanted on the Wall. I have been to the Mayberry Days celebration many times, I have met Don Knotts, Hal Smith, George Lindsay, Betty Lynn, and many others of the cast of The Andy Griffith Show, I have been to Key West, I've stood in two states at once, I have acted and directed in live theater, I have had a 7 course meal served to me in a Frank Lloyd Wright house, I own a Corvette, I've been to the grave of Hank Williams, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Lee, James Dean, and Gerald R. Ford. I've been to Spoon River, I have been to the childhood home of Helen Keller and stood next to the pump where the miracle happened, I've stood in front of "NightHawks at the Diner"by Edward Hopper, I saw the MC5 live, I saw "American Gothic" live and in person, I started "The Great Death List Society" and "The Armchair Football League" (a fantasy football league back in 1982 when nobody was doing this), I have been to the original Lambert's Cafe - home of the Throwed Rolls in Missouri, I've played pinball with Bruce Springsteen, I have seen Bob Dylan in concert four times, Mort Saul once, as well as George Carlin. I played pinball with Bruce Springsteen and have seen him in concert at least a dozen times. I knew all three of the "Flaming Rat" record store owners personally. I have been in the SUN studios and the FAME studios where virtually all of my favorite music (sans Beatles) was recorded. I've seen the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, The Surf Ballroom (the last place Buddy Holly ever played), and the Field of Dreams. I know who the Swampers, The Wrecking Crew, and The Lemon Fog are. I have been an entrant in ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. I have been to our nations archive and seen the real Constitution and the Declaration of Independence up close and personal.

All in all George Bailey, you've had a wonderful life.

She might have become stiller, but her legend lives on.

This week Ann Meara passed away.  She began her career as half of the comedy team of "Stiller and Meara" and in the early sixties they would often appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. That is where I first came to know them. They were supposed to be a comedy team, but honestly, how they ever made a living baffles me. They were not remotely funny. Not even a little bit. They could not even garner a smile out of me. But still I liked them. Why? Because they seemed like such real, genuine, and sincere people.

As we found out in subsequent years, the only reason they weren't hysterical back then is because they were totally in the wrong genre. Once they both began acting independently in TV sitcoms, their individual genius emerged. This leads me to believe that they both knew they had something, but just didn't know what it was.

Jerry Stiller is a man of great renown, appearing often on "Seinfeld", and being a regular on "King of Queens", both hits by any account. He still does guest shots in TV and movies and is wonderful every time.

But so did Ann Meara. She did wonderful work on a myriad of TV shows, and in fact got nominated twice for Emmy's for her work on "Archie Bunker's Place" - a follow up of "All In The Family."

I never met the Stillers. I never got to converse with Jerry, or his son Ben, or his daughter. And I never met his lovely bride of 61 years. But somehow I feel like I know them. And I would bet my last dollar that they are loving and adorable people.

Although I never had the privilege of meeting Ann Meara, I'll bet she was a sweet, loving person whose company I would have thoroughly enjoyed. I somehow in my gut just feel like we lost a wonderful lady this week. And I am confident in my estimation that Jerry Stiller is devastated.

So, hey, let's say a little prayer to help the family through this. Jerry, keep your chin up. You had 61 years with a wonderful lady.

My Boot Heels Might Be Wandering

I ran into a dear friend in the store the other night. She is a very smart woman and an in my opinion accomplished artist (actress) in her own right. We were just talking and then she recommended I see the film "Searching for Sugar Man". I said I would try and see it on her recommendation. She said "This guy is better than Bob Dylan." I replied "Nobody is better than Bob Dylan." Her reply was "This guy can write AND sing."

To say this guy can write and sing seems to put emphasis somehow on the vocals and I would think that if you gauge Bob Dylan by the vocals, I would respectfully submit that you have missed the whole point. Dylan is not a singer/songwriter like James Taylor or Cat Stevens. He is a poet who chose to send us his poetry through song instead of just text.

Let me start by saying that Bob Dylan is a poet of extraordinary caliber, and I truly believe he is the poet of a generation. I believe that from 1963 through his album "Blood On The Tracks" the muse of genius sat on his shoulder and gave him an extraordinary abilities. Bob Dylan must feel somewhat gratified to know that several major universities have courses in the poetry of Bob Dylan. His name will be revered generations from now along with Dickinson, Whitman, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Van Doren, and Williams. And I sincerely believe aside from perhaps Dickinson, his name will rise to top.

If someone was actually greater than Dylan, their face would be on the cover of TIME and NEWSWEEK several times this year, and for years to come. I must confess.....I don't know what the hell she's talking about.

So let me go back a bit.

I was pubescent teenager. I was in the home of my second surrogate family the Springers, and saw the open door to the top of the stairs where my surrogate sisters slept. At the top of the stairs there was an album cover propped up and it was the cover of Dylan's Blonde On Blonde. So I thought "if I want to be as cool as my surrogate sister Valkerie, I have to get this record." So I went to the store to get it. But they were sold out. So my first ever album buy was the substitute The Freewheeling Bob Dylan. And oh buddy, my life changed.

Okay, I'm man enough to admit that the other album I bought that day was Herman's Hermit's Greatest Hits. but I don't remember whatever happened to that. But Bob Dylan's Freewheeling Bob Dylan, preoccupied all of my time. Not just the anthem Blowin' In The Wind, but Talkin' World War III Blues, and the powerful Masters of War and A Hard Rains Gonna Fall. I knew then I was on to something and started buying Bob Dylan albums as fast as I could afford them.

Okay, maybe Dylan isn't the first name anybody ever thinks of when they think of singers. But neither is Mick Jagger, Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, or Louie Armstrong. But geniuses each and every one. Armstrong invented a music genre and the great American art form, but Dylan had the poet's muse.

My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.

Also:

I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way
I promise to go under it.

And:

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

- Mr. Tambourine Man

If Dylan had never written anything other that "Mr. Tamborine Man" he would have been a legend to me, and I realize my brief snippets of lyrics don't do it justice. But he sailed on "ships with tattooed sails", and asked "where you want this killin' done? And God said out on Highway 61",  and "there must be some kind of way out of here, said the Joker to the Thief", and "Senators and Congressman, please heed the call, please get out of the doorways, get out of the halls, for the Times They Are Changin'." And of course the incomparable "Like A Rolling Stone."

If you don't own "Blonde On Blonde" go out and buy it now. I'll wait.......... It is the only record I have purchased in every format. Vinyl (twice, wore the first out), 8 track, Cassette, CD, and download.

Everyone should own "Blonde On Blonde", "Highway 61 Revisited", and "Bringing It All Back Home." Listen to these three albums all the way through 5 times and tell me I'm not right.  And then branch out to ""The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", "John Wesley Harding", "Blood On The Tracks", "Nashville Skyline" and "Desire." What an extraordinary trip.... so far......

No, Bob Dylan may not be the greatest singer of our time, but Bob Dylan was our time. And that is something for us to marvel at in it's own right. And so my dear friend, my sad-eyed lady of the lowlands, I say again, nobody is better than Bob Dylan.