He's got his detractors, but I'm a Bobby Valentine fan. Happy birthday, Skipper.
1373: JULIAN OF NORWICH HAS VISIONS WHICH ARE LATER TRANSCRIBED IN HER REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE.
Is that like an older version of Fifty Shades of Gray?
1568: THE FORCES OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, ARE DEFEATED BY A CONFEDERACY OF SCOTTISH PROTESTANTS UNDER JAMES STEWART, EARL OF MORAY.
As opposed to James Stewart, Awesome Actor.
1619: DUTCH STATESMAN JOHAN VAN OLDENBARNEVELT IS EXECUTED IN THE HAGUE AFTER BEING CONVICTED OF TREASON.
With a name like that, he deserves it.
1787: CAPTAIN ARTHUR PHILLIP LEAVES PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND, WITH ELEVEN SHIPS FULL OF CONVICTS TO ESTABLISH A PENAL COLONY IN AUSTRALIA.
If you have to be in jail, there's no better place than Australia.
1846: THE UNITED STATES DECLARES WAR ON MEXICO.
This never ended, right?
1848: THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF FINLAND'S NATIONAL ANTHEM.
Don't know it. Hum a few bars, please.
1861: DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, QUEEN VICTORIA OF THE UNITED KINGDOM ISSUES A PROCLAMATION OF NEUTRALITY WHICH RECOGNIZES THE BREAKAWAY STATES AS HAVING BELLIGERENT RIGHTS.
A good fight to stay out of.
1861: PAKISTAN'S FIRST RAILROAD OPENS.
For those four of you who actually want to travel around Pakistan.
1880: IN NEW JERSEY, THOMAS EDISON PERFORMS THE FIRST TEST OF THE ELECTRIC RAILWAY.
Take that, Pakistan.
1914: BOXER JOE LOUIS IS BORN.
Pow! Crunch! Pow! Ouch!
1917: THREE CHILDREN REPORTS THE FIRST APPARITION OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA IN PORTUGAL.
Do you see what I see?
1922: ACTRESS BEATRICE ARTHUR IS BORN.
God will get you for that.
1933: BASEBALL CATCHER JOHN ROSEBORO IS BORN.
Hit in the head with a bat wielded by Juan Marichal in 1965. Just sayin'.
1939: THE FIRST COMMERCIAL FM RADIO STATION IN THE US IS LAUNCHED IN BLOOMFIELD, CONNECTICUT. THE STATION LATER BECOMES WDRC-FM.
1939? It's a little early for them to be playing Jethro Tull.
1940: WINSTON CHURCHILL MAKES HIS "BLOOD, TOIL, TEARS, AND SWEAT" SPEECH TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Earth, Wind, and Fire were not available.
1940: QUEEN WILHELMINA OF THE NETHERLANDS FLEES HER COUNTRY TO GREAT BRITAIN AFTER THE GERMAN INVASION.
I wonder how somebody from the Netherlands would say "let's get the hell out of here."
1941: SINGER RITCHIE VALENS IS BORN.
Died at the age of 18 in a plane crash. Waste.
1948: THE KFAR ETZION MASSACRE IS COMMITTED BY ARAB IRREGULARS, THE DAY BEFORE ISRAEL DECLARES ITS INDEPENDENCE.
PS, they're all still fighting.
1950: BASEBALL LEGEND BOBBY VALENTINE IS BORN.
How he got those Mets into the 2000 World Series is still a mystery to me.
1950: MUSICIAN STEVIE WONDER IS BORN.
When he really was Little Stevie Wonder.
1954: THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY PRODUCTION OF "THE PAJAMA GAME" OPENS.
Steam heat!
1958: DURING A TRIP TO VENEZUELA, VICE PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON'S CAR IS ATTACKED BY ANTI-AMERICAN DEMONSTRATORS.
Don't hit my dog Checkers.
1958: THE TRADEMARK VELCRO IS REGISTERED.
This will stick around for a while.
1958: A GROUP OF FRENCH MILITARY OFFICERS LEAD A COUP IN ALGIERS DEMANDING THAT A GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY BE FORMED WITH CHARLES DE GAULLE AT ITS HEAD IN ORDER TO DEFEND FRENCH CONTROL OF ALGERIA.
By the way, De Gaulle had really big ears.
1960: BERKELEY STUDENTS CONGREGATE FOR THE FIRST DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST A VISIT BY THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES.
There's always some kind of nonsense on this campus.
1961: ACTOR GARY COOPER DIES.
Dead. Yup.
1969: RACE RIOTS TAKE PLACE IN MALAYSIA.
Just in case you thought this only happened in this country.
1972: WILLIE MAYS PLAYS HIS FIRST GAME FOR THE METS AFTER BEING TRADED FROM THE GIANTS.
He hit a homer in the rain if my childhood memory is correct.
1972: ACTOR DAN BLOCKER DIES.
Hoss!
1977: MOBSTER MICKEY SPILLANE DIES.
No mystery.
1980: AN F3 TORNADO HITS MICHIGAN AND PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER DECLARES IT A FEDERAL DISASTER AREA.
If anybody knows disaster areas, it would be Carter.
1981: MEHMET ALI AGCA ATTEMPTS TO ASSASSINATE POPE JOHN PAUL II IN ROME'S ST. PETER'S SQUARE.
After emergency surgery, he lasted a whole bunch longer.
1989: LARGE GROUPS OF STUDENTS OCCUPY TIANANMEN SQUARE AND BEGIN A HUNGER STRIKE.
An hour later, they were still hungry all over again.
1994: JOHNNY CARSON MAKES HIS LAST TV APPEARANCE ON THE DAVID LETTERMAN SHOW.
Still miss the hell out of him.
2013: PSYCHOLOGIST DR. JOYCE BROTHERS DIES.
You think I got problems??? 2018: ACTRESS MARGOT KIDDER DIES. Not kidding any more. 2019: ACTRESS DORIS DAY DIES. They should have given her an Oscar while she was alive. Dinner last night: The last of the pork tenderloin.
Here's another sad by-product of the ongoing pandemic. I don't go to those little independent movies that are frequently well reviewed. The ones that are then awaiting my own trusty reviewing skills. When theaters shut down to the population in March, there were a couple of films on my to-do list that then promptly disappeared from my grasp. "The Assistant" was one of those movies. And so, as we all sit in solitary confinement, the On Demand button on our remote controls provides the key to seeing films just like that. Frankly, as you survey the rental prices (some I have seen are as high as twenty bucks), you realize it's a complete crap shoot. "The Assistant" was listed at an affordable six dollars. Sold. And it was six dollars well spent. Oh, not really. Here's another in a long line of movies whose superlative reviews confound me. Luckily, "The Assistant" comes in at a very economical 90 minutes, so you're not wasting a lot of time for your outlay of six greenbackerinos. Indeed, this movie is essentially a day in the live of Jane, a junior assistant at a Manhattan film company. We follow the always unsmiling Jane from literally dawn to dusk. We watch her make xerox copies (still?!), brew coffee, restock the company medicine cabinet, and get scolded for wrong lunch orders she made at the deli. There also might have been a fly walking up the wall, but I missed that. But, with subtle nuances in the background, you see all the little warning signs the #Metoo folks have included in their training films. There's a lot of THAT going on here and the faceless boss on the phone just might have the last name of Weinstein. So Jane goes to the HR guy to complain about what she is seeing and understanding about all THAT. He routinely dismisses her. At nightfall, she shuts down the office and stops at a coffee shop for a stale danish. She calls her dad to wish him a happy birthday. She heads home. Tomorrow will be another day just like this for Jane. End of movie. So long, six dollars. I realize there's probably some important things being said by writer/director Kitty Green. But the production is dingy and dark and dreary and completely devoid of even the slightest of smiles from lead actress Julia Garner. The result is a thoroughly unappealing ninety minutes. Yep, at your home prison or the local cineplex, independent movies are just like that roulette wheel. Sometimes, the ball lands on your number. Most times it does not. LEN'S RATING: Two-and-a-half stars. Dinner last night: Leftover pork tenderloin.
Here we are. The first time Mother's Day has been celebrated during a pandemic. I am usually at Dodger Stadium on this day and I guess my mom, a late-in-night convert to baseball, would appreciate that. But not today. As we continue to "get through this...together." Take a look at the photo above. It adorns my bedroom wall and is my mom at a very young age. There's some trickery behind the picture and you will have to read on to understand it. The portrait became a bit of a news item on Facebook recently and indeed brought back some memories. Lucy and I will "s'plain." About a month ago, a grade school friend of mine posted a similar era photo of her mom. It had the same look and color contrast as the one of my mother. The color of the blouse was virtually the same. And, thinking back to my mom's one artistic talent, I made the brilliant deduction. My mother likely colored the photo of my friend's mom. Colored? Yep. Way back in the day, black and white portraits were predominantly how photos were taken. Color film? That was probably just for rich folk at that time. So, my mother went to a class and learned how to color photos, just like what Ted Turner did to black-and-white classic movies years later. She had this little kit of crayons and I can still remember her sitting at the kitchen table intricately applying a crayon to somebody's cherished family portrait. Mom's work was displayed all over the family. Wedding photos. Christening pictures. 8 x 10 head shots. If they were in color, my mother was probably the artist behind them. So here's the hocus pocus I mentioned earlier. The photo at the top is in black and white because I put that filter on Instagram when I added the picture to my phone. The portrait itself, as it hangs in my bedroom, really looks like this.
Granted that the colors have faded over time. But Mom's artistic hand is clearly behind it. When my grade school chum posted the portrait of her mom, it had the same colorized look. The blouse was the same color. The lips were equally as vibrant red. I asked her if she knew how the picture had been colorized. She didn't know, but I'm pretty sure my mom did it. The scenario made sense. All the mothers of my grade school friends knew each other. Indeed, my mom's work might still be hanging in other walls of other homes of other friends. It was the one real artistic talent my mother had. And, while still a bit withered by time, it still exists. Apparently in a lot of places. Happy Mom's Day to all! Dinner last night: Pepperoni and olive pizza from Maria's.
I mean, with home schooling, Zoom classes, and all the other ways education is being extended during this pandemic craziness. It could be worse. You could have been involved in the school system of Roslyn, Long Island back in 2002. Well, here I go. When you can't review movies seen in theaters, you do critiques of those new films found on television. And "Bad Education" is certainly one to sink your teeth into as you sip your nightly quarantine cocktail. I must admit that I knew little about what happened in the Roslyn school district back then. In fact, all I ever knew about that little hamlet was that it was very rich and affluent. As a result, a lot of money get funneled into the school system. And, apparently, it's totally available to the superintendent Frank Tassone. "Bad Education" is one of those movies that begins with the now-requisite title card. "Based on a true story." Heck, if one-tenth of what is displayed in this film really happened, I have no clue how I slept through all this on the news even 3000 miles away in Los Angeles. Tassone, as depicted by Hugh Jackman, was a charismatic, narcissistic, and gay school administrator who liked to dip his hands into the till. His assistant Pam, played by the always welcome Allison Janney, did her best to help via the use of some dummy corporations run by members of her family. School funds being used to advance education was practiced. So was the purchase of first class tickets on the Concorde for Tassone and his boyfriend. When the wagons circle, Pam takes the fall first and is dismissed by the school board president (Ray Romano!!!!!). But a persistent girl on the high school newspaper realizes that the crookedness goes all the way to the top. And the cover-up engineered by Tassone is the driving force of most of the film. You know he'll get caught. Like an old "Columbo" the fun is in how that happens. There's some unevenness with the pacing. And there's a bizarre musical score that alternates between classical pieces and a single persistent booming sound. Nevertheless, in this pandemic era, the experience of seeing a new film that keeps your attention from wandering into the kitchen for another snack is appreciated. And, as you watch "Bad Education," think twice the next time your kid tells you his or her school doesn't have enough money for blackboard erasers. LEN'S RATING: Three stars. Dinner last night: Salad with roasted garlic dressing.
