The feral dogs of Detroit
City of Strays: Detroit’s Epidemic of 50,000 Abandoned Dogs in Rolling Stone.
Warning: Upsetting, esp. if you live with pets.
Archive for April, 2012
Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.
From cinematicwallpaper.com
Kermit said the Blu-Ray edition of The Godfather was so clear, you could see Michael’s chin trembling just before he shot Solozzo.
We know someone who doesn’t need Blu-Ray clarity to achieve that, Ernie pointed out.
Charito Solis, we chorused.
Apparently making the Blu-Ray version entailed a great deal of restoration work. The movie was such a blockbuster that so many prints were struck using the master copy, and the master was falling apart. So they had to find a good print and then make a new master copy before they could make the super-clear edition. Hence Michael’s chin. And Diane Keaton’s dewy youth, which made Kay Adams seem even more naive (Was her character really the USA?) And the horse’s head, bought from a glue factory. And Santino’s back hair. Kermit noted that if The Godfather had been made today, the producers would’ve made James Caan get waxed. We think that in the current climate, when producers are all pandering to the teen demographic, something like the Coppola would never have been made.
Bert observed how most of the scenes take place in half-darkness. Coppola had hired (Kermit correction: the cinematographer was Gordon Willis) may have been impressed by the work of Vittorio Storaro, who did The Conformist with Bertolucci and was sort of the king of shadows (Those venetian blinds, which Schrader used to great effect in American Gigolo).
The Conformist photo from HammertoNail
We think much of the look of The Godfather was inspired by The Conformist, from the lighting to the clothes to Dominique Sanda’s hair. Kermit pointed out that the scenes in Sicily were in the blinding sunshine, heightening the contrast in Michael’s character. The main story of The Godfather is Michael’s gradual turning to the dark side, and Al Pacino’s face shows the evolution: you can see his expression hardening. It didn’t hurt that Al Pacino was so handsome.
Ernie made no remarks because while we were watching The Godfather in Kermit’s attic he was watching Sherlock with headphones on his computer at the bar.
Nino Rota, Fellini’s favorite scorer, did the music for The Godfather—the main theme reminds us of the music for La Strada. In fact, Kermit reminded us, the theme from The Godfather was disqualified from the Oscars because it had not been composed specifically for the movie. Later the score of The Godfather II won the Oscar.
Beautiful as the music is, the most tense moments take place without it. Don Vito buying fruit, footsteps picking up speed, shots. We were set up for this—Freddo drove the car because Pauly was absent. No unnecessary explanation, no one in the kitchen crying, The don might get assassinated! Michael groping behind the tank—What if the gun isn’t there! Michael and Enzo standing outside the hospital with their hands inside their coats delivered the message to the would-be assassins, just as Michael calmly lighting a cigarette tells us that something has changed in his character—or triggered something that was dormant.
In most movies dialogue does the work that the other elements should’ve done; that’s inept direction. In bad movies the music does the work, telling the audience how they should feel. Most recent movies make us want to shoot the musical scorer, though it is ultimately the director’s fault (Assuming the director had the final say and not a committee from the finance and marketing departments).
Later we had one of our typical discussions with Kermit, who likes to impose reason in a fundamentally irrational universe.
How did Corleone know it was Barzini?
Because at the meeting of the capos he gleaned that Barzini was pulling Tattaglia’s strings.
Yes, but how did he know?
You don’t get to be Godfather without having a gut instinct for these things.
Why did Tessio go quietly? He should’ve pulled out his gun and started shooting.
There’s lots of violence elsewhere. More emotional kick in Tessio knowing that he’s doomed and he brought it down on himself. When he asks Tom if he can be spared…
But he’s dead so why doesn’t he just take them all with him?
Because these are gangsters with a code of honor that is already being eroded with the times.
It doesn’t make sense.
Ikaw na lang kaya ang magsulat ng pelikula!
Of course if Kermit wrote movies they would last two minutes. (Unstoppable: They should just fire a missile at the engine and it would be over. Da Vinci Code: If the old man wants their secret to stay secret, he should just die quietly, duh.)
Impossible to watch The Godfather and not have an Italian dinner afterwards. (We know people who have Godfather dinners in character.) We had pasta, sausages, gelati, cheese, chianti. We were supposed to bring cannoli (“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”) but we don’t care for the one sold in Italianni’s and we’re not sure it’s still available. So we brought Vargas butter cake as an allusion to a later Brando movie.
Pinto
No work! (Almost) No traffic! No aggravation! Last Thursday we went up to Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo for a change of scenery.
All photographs taken with a phone by RickyV.
We forgot to ask if the Pinto Cafe by Bizu was open for the holidays. It wasn’t, and we didn’t go all the way to Antipolo to eat at a Chic-Boy. Rene recommended the old reliable Vieux Chalet and we found directions online. (Verb of the week: i-googels. As in, Petra, i-googels mo nga sa iPad yung ano. Goo-gehls, the way Kuya Germs says ‘girls’.)
Our lunch was so good it didn’t occur to us to take photos haha. (When you eat there, try the five-cheese pizza, the lamb shoulder, and the ever-popular sausages and raclette.)
Our friends visited the galleries while we walked around the gardens. Fabulous as the art collection is, we were more fascinated by the trees and shrubbery. And we’re not even the outdoorsy type.
Do you know how odd it is to be in a car in which everyone is singing I’m Every Woman by Chaka Khan except the one who is a woman? (We picked up an important bit of trivia: Whitney Houston did backing vocals on this recording, which she covered some years later.)
Which reminds us of our friend’s office Xmas party some years ago. They hired a Chaka Khan impersonator who sang Through the Fire while drawing circles on the floor with a spritzer bottle of kerosene. Then during the chorus she lit the circle. Through the fire…whoosh!
Sunday brunch, 2 continents
Click on the flyer to enlarge.
Last week we tried the Crossover Brunch at Dusit Hotel. Our table was at Umu (Japanese restaurant) on the ground floor, but we could also do the buffet at Tosca (Italian) and Benjarong (Thai) upstairs. This required walking up and down the stairs carrying plates of food and glasses of prosecco (taking the elevator seemed absurd), avoiding the kids taking Sunday lunch with their folks, and lacquered matrons unaccustomed to looking where they’re going.
Walking turned out to be an excellent idea—we needed the exercise between bouts of stuffing ourselves. Our favorite station was the risotto counter outside Tosca, where they made the risotto using ingredients you pick out. Mmmm truffle risotto. There’s a wait.
Our finicky foodie friend noted that the buffet presentation was drab—it was like lunchtime at an office cafeteria, though the food is very good. We were so full we skipped dinner.
Auntie Janey’s Old-Fashioned Agony Column #50: Are you the girlfriend or the tension relief?
Dear Auntie Janey,
I have been single for the past two years and some months now. Previously, I had a boyfriend who seemed to be an amazing man of God. We would exchange passages each morning from our daily devotions, he would fetch me after work, we would spend time talking with each other and just having a good time watching movies and listening to music. One morning, I just found out that he was still married and everything he said about his supposedly ex-wife is a lie. After finding out that he was cheating with me, I broke up with him and have been single since. It is not like no one has ever found interest in dating me, but I just have not found interest with the men who have been asking me out on dates. However, 7months after the break up, I started hooking up with a good friend of mine and we’ve been like that for a year and some months now. He is in a long distance relationship and has been on and off with her, and sometimes I think to myself “couldn’t it be that its you and me?”
Now am 25, turning 26 in December; and he is 36 turning 37 in December as well. At my age now, many of my friends keep on saying that I should settle down already, and have kids of my own. I keep on telling them that I cant even take care of myself how much more other people. And they would tell me that I should start to shape up, because my “expiration date” is coming up really fast. In reality, of course I want to be in a serious and stable relationship, but am too scared to really start dating and opening myself to other people again. At the same time, I have this man whom I have been seeing consistently for the past almost 2yrs, but I have no idea if he sees me as someone he could fall in love with or just really someone he could release all his tensions to. My thinking is that if the two us is ever going to work out as bf/gf, then it should’ve happened a long time ago. Maybe its stupid of me, because in spite the fact that i know he has this long distance girlfriend i still stood by him and still hope a little that one day he wakes up in love with me.
Recently we had this pregnancy scare, and both of us made sure that i was not gonna get pregnant. He research on female body clock and at the same time i took a 24hour pill to prevent possible pregnancy. During that phase, he showed concern about how i was doing and feeling, but thats about it. I think he was more concerned on assuring that i was not pregnant. Then i told him that if in any case the situation present itself, i am not going to force him to do anything he doesnt want to do. The next morning he apologized for how he acted and i told him that it was ok. Now, we are again back to how we were… We go out to movies, dinners, and whatever else.
So this is telling you my story in the hopes of maybe clarifying somethings in my life. Should i stop seeing this man and just find someone else to date? And if its better for me to see someone else, what exercise could I do so that I do not shut down immediately men who find interest to date me? If its a good idea to try and be with this man, then how should i begin telling him that i want us to try us be bf/gf?
Thank you Auntie Janey, hopefully I could read from you soon…
Pilya
Dear Pilya,
I’m writing this while taking a break from packing my stuff for a three-day trip to some remote beach in Camarines Norte. I am not particularly fond of the beach but I do take interest in rock formations, marine life, and in anything that would allow me to pretend I’m hosting a nature show on Discovery Channel. In the process, I make myself paranoid. I remember a time that I went to this island called Snake Island, because literally it was the nesting site of sea snakes during high tide. My inner Discovery commentator with a British accent said “Sea snakes are one of the most venomous snakes in the world”.
Speaking of snakes, I think you are playing with one. It’s a dangerous game that you are playing and you got almost bitten once. We all have this fascination for the dangerous despite our misgivings and it is such a thrill to do something which we know could backfire on us. It becomes more thrilling knowing that if we eluded harm or injury once, we could do it again. So we continue the dance.
I think you already know that you are just there to relieve his tensions, figuratively and literally. All the convenience without the corresponding obligations. Why should he make it more complicated by anointing you as his official girlfriend when he already gets what he wants without you making such a fuss about it? And as you yourself observed, if he wanted the two of you to be together, he would have already declared on Facebook that the two of you are in a relationship.
You could test the waters by withdrawing all your services from him. Let him chase you around a bit. Make yourself less available and try to do things on your own and with other people. I’ve written about this in my first ten columns or so, please look them up. If he pursues you, well and good. There is a chance that he would discover that you are the one. If he just let’s you go, well honey at least you had some good boinking.
It would be a bad idea to tell a man that you want to take things to the next level. “The Talk” will not do any good in your situation. You have been doing all the duties of a girlfriend or wife yet you do not have the official status. It has been going on for so long that I think you are just a buddy with benefits for him. A self-cleaning tissue, some mean people would remark(me).
I think you will have a hard time letting him go and dating other men because you have spent so much time on him already. But, if you do want to date other men, the best exercise is to go out there and actually date. When we are constantly exposed to something, our defenses are eventually lowered because we are already comfortable with it. You have only gotten used to just one man and by allowing yourself to meet other men(meet ha not sleep with) you may eventually get used to them and be at ease. See less or no more of him and throw yourself into the dating circle.
I’ve just noticed that my newly-bought humongous mountaineering bag(the original plan was to climb up some mountain) still has lots of space, I must restrain myself from stuffing all of my closet into it.
Truly Yours,
Auntie Janey
agoniesforauntiejaney@gmail.com
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