Memory

I grew up in a household with a father, mother, two sisters and an occasional grandparent. Back when more of us were still alive, we often sat around the table after a meal and told stories. So help me Hannah, to listen to us tell the tales, none of us lived in the same house or shared the same experiences. Frequently, it was the conversational equivalent of Rorschach tests crossed with Rashomon. And those stories morphed over time. The funniest bits got played up for laughs; the sad ones; the painful ones, well, if we were generous, we learned to edit and ease up on those.

So I'm going on the record to support Brian Williams, Anchor and Managing Editor, of NBC Nightly News. I don’t know how or why his story of his time in Iraq evolved. There are vast amounts of digital ink being spilled on Mr. Williams’ chronology; not nearly as much on the science of memory; and far too much umbrage, snark and glee for such a serious subject. Mr. Williams has acknowledged what he did. He has apologized. And he is temporarily off the air.

I understand this is journalism. I understand there are ethical standards. I also understand Mr. Williams has sustained a crushing blow to his credibility and his career.

Back in 1995 Jay Leno asked Hugh Grant: “What the hell were you thinking?”
Hugh Grant eventually replied: “I did a bad thing, and there you have it.”

Yeah, Hugh Grant is an actor. Brian Williams is a journalist. I get that.

I also know I am very grateful no television crew was ever in my home rolling tape as my family and I told our stories; grateful no internet existed to pounce upon any of our missteps, misspoken, misremembered moments, nor the embellished tales we told.

My gut says Mr. Williams is a smart, well intentioned human being who screwed up.
I hope he rides out this media tumult and emerges tarnished, battered, but unbroken.

Hurricane Eval

- The state and federal Emergency Management Agencies and meteorologists need to provide folks with all the facts about an impending weather event.
- The elected officials need to both reinforce the message as well as recommend appropriate action and reassure people that everything that can be done will be done.
- The media needs to report the story - the predictions, preparations, history, impact, aftermath and recovery.

But...

There is a phrase “cool under fire”. Every single one of the individuals mentioned above need to do their jobs without histrionics; without hyperbole. They also need to be “cool under fire”. They need to do their jobs with honor and dignity. If they exaggerate the potential and the risks, then they cry wolf and endanger the populace.

The New England Hurricane of 1938 killed over 680 people and did tremendous and lasting damage. It was a category three storm when it made landfall. Had the satellite and forecasting computers we have today been available back then, countless lives could have been saved.

This weather knowledge is vital and must be used properly. A hurricane or blizzard should never be a “ratings bonanza” nor an opportunity for self aggrandizement. It should never, ever tip over into what Jeff Jarvis has called “storm porn”. This flow of information and reportage is a responsibility of the highest order and should be treated responsibly, not like a carnival barker trying to get paying customers into a sideshow.

Class Warfare? I Call Bull Puckey!

And thank heavens, so does Jon Stewart!

Do watch both videos in sequence.
The “F” word and a few others are bleeped, but probably NSFW.

The Daily Show - World of Class Warfare - Warren Buffett vs. Wealthy Conservatives
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show - World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is Over
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

He’s Smiling

My Dad loved the Boston Bruins. We lived in Rhode Island when the Bruins hockey games were broadcast over a UHF station out of Boston. We had only one television that could pick up the UHF signal. It was a little black and white TV with the round wire UHF antenna on the back. Dad had to position it “just so” in the northeast corner of a second floor bedroom. Even with his careful and repeated adjustments, he still watched nearly every Bruins game through a field of electronic snow. Truly, I do not know how he ever actually saw the puck. Between the tiny screen and the chronic snow I think he must have intuited the position of the puck as it flew across the ice. It didn’t matter. He loved the game. He loved the Bruins.

So when the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup last night, for the first time in 39 years, I know that Dad was smiling. And I sure hope that they had an enormous, state-of-the-art, HD TV up in heaven so that Dad could watch his team win the best of seven and bring the Cup back to Boston. If there was a cold Heineken on hand, well, so much the better!

Up Down & Out

When I watched the first episode of the new “Upstairs Downstairs” on PBS, my interest was piqued. It was no “Downton Abbey”, but it was engaging and enjoyable. Sunday night I tuned in for the second of the three episodes and was very disappointed. The first hour was a bit rushed but the second felt like a badly edited Cliff’s Notes. Was this a budget problem? Could they not afford another half hour’s worth of filming and some exposition? By the end of the second hour I felt as if the writers and producers had nearly as many hours worth of stories as the original 68 episodes in the 1970s, but they felt compelled to cram them into three hours. And of the storylines presented, all deserved more attention.

I’ll give Upstairs Downstairs the final hour next Sunday. But if they bring us another incarnation in 2012, I will be hard pressed to return to Eaton Place.

“Framed”

Unfortunately, this is belated, but I did want to heartily recommend the PBS Masterpiece Contemporary show “Framed”. It aired in this region the night of our “Rolling Christmas” and blizzard. We had set the DVR for it. Once we had a chance to watch the show, we were completely charmed by it.

I haven’t been all that excited about the Masterpiece Contemporary series. I did enjoy “Place of Execution” and also “Collision”. So with three in the “like” column, I guess I need to keep an open mind about whatever comes out in the future under the banner of “Masterpiece Contemporary”!

Skeevy

The television advertisement for the 2011 Toyota Highlander gives me the creeps. It’s the one with the little kid dissing his parents’ older minivan, as he climbs into another parent’s Highlander. (While complimenting “Mrs. J.” on her choice of ride, he channels a young Eddie Haskell.) The kid’s tagline is: “Just because you’re a parent doesn’t mean you have to be lame.” Ouch. The base price range for this SUV is $28,200 to $43,755. Freakin’ A! I’ve got no problem with capitalism and free enterprise, but Toyota, is this really the path you want go down to peddle your wares in a recession?

Following Breadcrumbs - Again!

You know Masterpiece Theater on PBS?
O.K.
You know the Swedish series “Wallander” starring Kenneth Branagh?
O.K.
You know the haunting song they play every time they advertise “Wallander”?

“Tram wires
Across northern skies
Cut my blue heart in two
My knuckles bleed
Down the tattered street
On a door that shouldn't be
In front of me...”

O.K.
It took some Googling but it turns out that it’s called “Nostalgia”. It’s sung by an Australian gal by the name of Emily Barker.
The reason it was a bit of a hunt was because they changed the lyrics from the original song to fit the “Wallander” series.
I found the info thanks to this German blog.

Umm... So, now you know why I’m a little backed up with my laundry!

Where’s The Off Switch?

You know those ball machines that serve tennis balls or pitch baseballs to you at a steady clip? You remember the “Lucy and Ethel work in the chocolate factory” episode when the conveyor belt speeds up and overwhelms them? Life came at us a little like that this week. Some of it was very troubling: a relative with a serious health diagnosis. Some of it was curious: Chuck with a fever and no other specific symptoms. Some of it was frustrating: the domino effect on our family when Chuck’s fever meant we had to cancel a visit to Rhode Island. Some of it was just plain stupidly-small: our e-mail service changed formats and left us feeling like all the easy, useful features had been stripped in the name of “new & improved”.

You get the idea. The sense that every time the phone rang a new challenge was being delivered - major, minor and every size in between. I know that many things will resolve themselves on their own or yield to some attention, effort and maybe a little homemade chicken soup. Worrying won’t really help - but it does occupy one’s time and energy. Tincture of time is frequently effective - but requires patience. Perhaps a good night’s sleep will leave us better prepared for whatever life sends our way tomorrow. Hey, including being able to truly enjoy some good news - - - O.K. Universe?

Need some inspiration? Click here.

Memories & Farewell

It was back in January of 1989. I had flown out to see my sister Karen and her family in California. Our Mom was visiting at the same time. One evening, Karen arranged for all of us to go and watch a taping of the television situation comedy “Designing Women”. It was fascinating to see what goes on between takes and behind the camera. Even though the show broadcast as just a half hour, it took many hours to record. As the evening wore on, some audience members left and some of the seats around us became vacant. That was when Hal Holbrook sat down right next to me. He was married to the star of “Designing Women”, Dixie Carter. I could barely breathe. I was so excited. I stayed calm and cool and managed to exchange some pleasantries with him in between takes. No, I didn’t ask him for his autograph. I was being cool remember? At one point Dixie came up to where Hal was seated. They smiled and chatted. It struck me during that brief exchange that they were completely enchanted with each other. From start to finish it was an exciting and memorable evening.

Tonight I learned that Dixie Carter passed away earlier today. She was just 70 years old. Hal is 85. This May they would have celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary. May Dixie rest in peace. May Hal and their family find comfort and peace.

What A Difference A Day Makes

Yesterday, I felt as if the world was pressing in on me. I couldn’t define it very well. Part of it was having too long a to do list and feeling as if I was running out of time. But that didn’t explain the sadness or maybe it was anxiety. Usually, I am able to take a few moments, look inside my heart and identify what the heck it is I am feeling. Believe me, Chuck really appreciates when I can do that! It’s much better than pulling a Laura Petrie and crying “Oh Rob...” as I run out of the room! But yesterday, I just had the overpowering urge to hold my hands up, palms out, as if trying to shield myself or ward off that world which felt as if it was closing in.

By the time dinnertime rolled around, I was feeling more normal. Today, I woke feeling much better, perkier - heck, downright chipper. My to do list was still too long, the clock still running too fast, but I just didn’t feel as worried or stressed. Weird. Yesterday was summery hot. Today was pleasantly cool. Could that have been it? Maybe the heat was a factor, but it wouldn’t explain the whole thing. One niggling worry in the back of my mind is, well, er, you know “That Which Shall Not Be Named”. I’ll be turning 52 soon and I hear that emotional ups and downs are part of that whole “transition”.

Nah... I’m going with the heat.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Check Mate

Here in the U.S. they run an awful lot of advertisements for dating services. They talk about the science, simplicity and safety of having their particular service match you with your true love. We have two reactions when we see these ads: 1. Thank God we’re not looking. And 2. They never would have matched us!

On paper there is very little Chuck and I have in common. He likes classical music; I tolerate it. He does crossword puzzles daily; I think them unnecessarily abstruse. He’s very social and outgoing; I believe good fences make good neighbors. He was raised Jewish; I was raised Catholic. When we met, Chuck enjoyed his role as an intellectual snob: while I liked to have my finger on the pulse of popular culture. He listened to NPR; I watched MTV (back when they aired videos!). He grew up in the midwest; I’m Rhode Island all the way. He is fifteen years my senior; umm - same in reverse. Then there was the whole taxes issue, which I’m not sure if dating services poll people on, but which took a couple of decades and Barack Obama to resolve for us.

Now, I suppose, if they dug deeply enough, any dating service (or more likely a human matchmaker, a shadchen) would figure out that we share a common set of values. They also would figure out that we both love to laugh. But would they have any idea that we laugh at a lot of the same things - Marx Brothers and Three Stooges excepted? How would they know that word play makes us ridiculously happy and to do it in multiple languages is a grand slam? Speaking of baseball, we were both just casual baseball fans, but, after meeting, became devoted Boston Red Sox fans together. Where are the boxes to tick for all that?

When we met, we knew. No, we didn’t know we would marry one day. But we did feel a connection; a sense of old friends reuniting; a spark. I don’t know how the dating services figure that out. I’m just happy we were lucky enough not to require outside assistance.

On Blue

It’s funny, we say we are feeling blue to denote sadness. But we take delight in blue skies. We say we swore a blue streak or that the comedian worked blue. But we also say that a great idea came to us out of the blue. We use bluing to whiten and brighten our clothes. Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” album was one of her darkest, brightest and finest. And Mrs. Slocombe’s occasionally blue hair still makes me smile.

Today, I am somewhere in that list of blues; luckily, more than one.

Digital_Nation

Tonight we watched the PBS Frontline special called “Digital_Nation, Life On The Virtual Frontier”. We found it fascinating and thought provoking. We had recorded it on our DVR. From time to time during the hour and a half program we paused it in order to pop on the internet and look something up. To say we were self aware would be an understatement; self conscious would be more accurate. In my own defense, I did refrain from Tweeting during the broadcast!

The program highlighted many positive aspects of how we are increasingly connected to each other via technology. The most troubling aspect of the show was their discussion of technology, especially video games, as addictions. But the most fascinating segment was the early research which shows that folks who multi-task excessively with technology aren’t absorbing information in the ramped up, super-efficient way they think they are. Stanford Professor Clifford Nass said: “We have not yet found something that [multitaskers] are definitely better at than people who don't multitask.”

Uh oh...

So Far So Good

It was a very quiet day at home. A hockey game was played at Fenway Park. It had a happy ending for the Boston Bruins, which even for non-hockey fans like us was pretty darned exciting. We watched a couple more episodes of “Mad Men” and continued to find them mesmerizing and creepy. A little bit of snow drifted down, but not enough to need to shovel.

True, it is just the first day, but 2010 has yet to disappoint!
;o)

Forgotten - Not Gone!

We’ve been enjoying this season’s new ABC series “The Forgotten” starring Christian Slater. Being the kiss of death, we’ve been worried the powers that be at ABC wouldn’t give it enough time to catch on and establish an audience. Chuck learned today that they have ordered five new episodes. Yes!

The premise is that a group of volunteers work with police on cold cases to try to identify the bodies of Jane and John Doe homicide victims. The show always captures our attention, holds our interest, isn’t excessively grisly and doesn’t telegraph the ending in the first two minutes! Is it perfect? No, but it’s very good. (And whoever is shooting their aerial shots of Chicago deserves applause.) ABC seems to like broadcasting clips from their shows, but, despite banners to the contrary, I couldn’t find full episodes on their site. The next episode of “The Forgotten” is scheduled to be broadcast on Tuesday, December 1, 2009. Mark your calendars...

Family & Fish

Last April, shortly after we returned from Chuck’s father’s memorial service and interment out in Washington state, we recorded a program on the Boston PBS station, WGBH. It was called “The Gefilte Fish Chronicles”. (Perhaps it was the nearness of Dad’s passing, but we just couldn’t watch it until this past week.) It is a very funny, yet deeply moving documentary about one family’s preparations for a Passover Seder. But that sentence doesn’t begin to capture the “behind the scenes” look at three elderly sisters of the Dubroff clan as they clash, kibbitz and kvetch their way through six weeks of food preparation in advance of Pesach.

The Dubroff family is blessedly large and to host a Seder for dozens of people requires enormous quantities of food and many willing hands set to seemingly unending tasks. All of which is done under the leadership of the sisters, who are doing so much more than fulfilling a religious obligation. They are also honoring their parents Abe and Minnie Dubroff in continuing a wonderful family tradition. Their great and enduring gift is the way they have risen to the challenge, year after year and brought the subsequent generations into the mix. Now, they are sharing it with the world.

Chuck put it best when he wrote:
“We laughed.
We cried.
We got hungry.
We ordered the DVD and the cookbook.”

By the way, you don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy “The Gefilte Fish Chronicles”. Dollars to doughnuts, if you come from any ethnic background with strong traditions of family and food - and if the phrase: “That’s how (not how) Mom always did it.” has ever been heard in your kitchen, then you’ll feel right at home with the Dubroffs!

Here’s where you can learn more, watch a brief video clip and order your own copy of “The Gefilte Fish Chronicles” - and the companion cookbook.

High Cheese

I really like Jerry Remy, the color commentator for the NESN television broadcasts of Boston Red Sox games. And I miss Jerry ever since he took a leave of absence to more fully recuperate from lung cancer surgery and some subsequent infections. Selfishly, I was worried about what the broadcasts would be like with a string of substitute co-hosts joining play-by-play guy Don Orsillo in the booth. But it has turned out great. Two former Red Sox players Dave Roberts and Dennis Eckersley, along with a few other broadcast veterans, have filled in for Jerry. Each one has his own style and has managed to be both informative and entertaining. Miraculously, none of them have been annoying; none of them have been cringe inducing or had that fingernails-on-a-blackboard quality about their on-air performance. (All of which puts the miserable baseball broadcasters over at ESPN and Fox Sports into sharp relief!)

My personal favorite has turned out to be Dennis Eckersley. “Eck” is a colorful guy. His grammar and syntax occasionally require a road map, but it’s his creative, inside-baseball lingo which leaves us charmed and chuckling. Eck was a pitcher and has innumerable ways to describe a pitch - my personal favorites: “high cheese” (an excellent fastball) and “salad” (bad pitching)*! He also speaks his mind giving frank opinions about players - both Red Sox and opposing players - but he is never mean spirited. Mind you, Eck doesn’t have much of a governor and has been caught swearing and stumbling through the occasional awkward malapropism. No matter, he’s a breath of fresh air. I wish Jerry Remy all the best, especially a swift and complete recovery. But he can rest assured, the Red Sox color commentary is in good and very interesting hands.

*Here’s a link to a good Eck Glossary.

Words

There’s a good television show on the USA network called “In Plain Sight”. It focuses on a couple of U.S. Marshals who serve in the Federal Witness Protection Program. The lead character is Mary Shannon played by Mary McCormack. Her partner is Marshall Mann, played by Fred Weller. At the very end of this second season’s opening episode, entitled “Gilted Lily”, Mary speaks in a voice over as her sister says goodbye to her deceased boyfriend in the morgue. In the background Alison Krauss, along with a chorus, sings “Down In The River To Pray” a capella.

The voice over was so striking, so poetic, we tried to find it online. No results led us to transcribe it. I’m sorry I can’t credit a specific writer, but here it is:


My addled brain tries to connect the dots
wondering how it is we’ve come to this place.
Cold, stark, blue-light lodging
indifferent to hope, desire, love;
lacking all but the most basic amenities.

Perhaps this stainless steel and formaldehyde rest stop
stands as a post-mortem reminder.
A kind of finger-wagging refrigerated warning
hung for all to see:

“For those inclined to feed the bears,
beat the light,
traverse thin ice,
run with scissors,
get rich quick:
Here but for the grace of God goes you.”

Random Thoughts In My Head

: : One of my documents in Pages (living in iWork '09) has suddenly hiccupped, won't open and is sending me an error message: "required index.xml file is missing". I'm trying not to panic.

: : I love the opening part of the Amstel Light beer advertisement, when the old man calls out "Ladies and gentlemen, let's begin!" - in Dutch. (See it here) But despite having a pretty good ear, no matter how hard I try, I cannot repeat his call accurately. I've even tried using an online translator but I get something which doesn't scan quite right: "De dames en de heren beginnen!"

: : Using a tripod with my little Canon PowerShot S2 IS always feels like too big a production. I'm thinking a monopod would be better and easier. Suggestions?

: : Any Boston Red Sox vs. the New York Yankees game is exciting. But this home stand has been amazing!

UPDATE: The Red Sox swept the Yankees! And Jacoby Ellsbury STOLE HOME! Andy Pettitte was pitching, Jorge Posada was catching and Jacoby dove in head first and freakin' stole home! Very rare (first time in ten years for the Red Sox - maybe fifteen years for a straight steal) and extra sweet that it happened against the Evil Empire! So Good!