"Bombshell" on Amazon Prime

 Taking on the heads of Fox News would in no way be an easy task and this movie about just that scenario shows how difficult it was. Yes, the story of Megyn Kelly and the sexual harassment suits against Roger Ailes  (the chairman and chief executive of Fox News) is a somewhat fictionalized account, but we all know he was eventually kicked off of Fox News, given a huge  monetary settlement and then, well, nothing really different happened. Some women stayed on, some left, and there is no doubt harassment still continuing.

But this is a good movie. The cast is excellent, there are light-hearted moments until the nasty truth comes out. A lot is happening in this movie, it's quick and to the point. Watch it while realizing that it was probably more gut-wrenching in reality. Take note of the creepiness of Roger Ailes. Played by an incredibly slimy John Lithgow, you can feel your face cringing every time he is on the screen. This movie reinforced my admiration for Charlize Theron as an actor. She barely looks like herself but she does a spot-on portrayal of Kelly. It's decent entertainment and if you are a Prime member, it's free!  Even better.

Cheers!

Please read this column, link included.

 At the end of every day, I look at the New York Times site on my phone, just to see what craziness has happened in the past 14 hours. This evening I came across this opinion piece and it moved me to tears. Please read it. Not because you need to know how to die, but because it's about love and life and sometimes the end of our days.  Almost every line, every sentence, could be taken out of context and praised for its beauty, clarity and truth.  Just this one sentence should compel you to click on the link below:   As a connecting force, love makes a person much more resistant to obliteration.

A very good friend lost her mother a few days ago, not from Covid, but from old age, dementia, other things. But talking to Kara about her Mom's death opened that door to the discussion of dying, of our immortality.  Talking about death means talking about life at the same time. Realizing  that you are alive means acknowledging that you still have choices, you can appreciate life and you can be ready for death. Not ready for sudden death but ready to release the fear of death. We are mortal. We will die. How we live until that time is what's important.

Please read this and think about it and share it with others. (If it doesn't link when clicking on it, copy and paste into your browser or simply go to nytimes.com and find it in the Opinion section,) I found it to be profoundly moving and very important for all of us, old and young, healthy and not. Death isn't a mystery. It's a fact. But it doesn't need to be put in a box and stored in a dark corner.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/18/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-death.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

To be in Paris right now......

 Walking early this morning, the air felt like Parisian winter air: damp, cold, fresh. The skies were gray, like the winter skies of Paris. For a  moment my eyes watered at the desire to be there at that very instant.  But that could have been the cold air making them water and making my nose run.

For years Tom and I left SFO the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and went to Europe: France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Czech Republic, Sicily.  One two week trip to Manhattan, another to Montreal, another to Istanbul. Two weeks of nothing to do but walk and eat and drink local wine, revel in the fact that there wasn't much English being spoken, read books, sleep in and enjoy the cold weather.  Today would be the day we would return home, usually around December 15th or so. Is it any wonder that my body jumps at the thought of Paris weather? Jumps at the idea of getting on a plane and arriving in a foreign land?

That moment this morning opened a door in my memory bank, one that has been shut pretty tight lately. Not going anywhere, longing for a change of scenery, don't want to start thinking of all the beautiful places I would rather be. But I thought of the dinner we had in Sicily, a small trattoria that was almost empty at the early hour we walked in. The only occupied table had about 8 men, all in dark plain suits, all very Italian (or Sicilian to be precise) and all seriously talking and seriously eating. It didn't take a genius to figure out they were linked in ways Americans are not. Tom and didn't want to say the word "Brotherhood" or "Mafia" out loud but it was clear this was a business meeting of the most intense kind.

Another memory: we took a train from Vienna to Venice, a very long train ride. People on the train were coughing and it wasn't a surprise that by the time we got to Venice we were feeling terrible. Sore throats, chills, aches. The first three nights we were in Venice we were both very sick. Fevers, spirit people haunting our dreams, no appetites. The pharmacist gave us good drugs, they helped and the last two days we were able to actually enjoy the city.

So many more images popped into my head all day long:  walking across wooden planks from ferry boat to ferry boat in Istanbul, waiting for the ferry to take us down the Black Sea; driving through a blinding snow storm in southern Italy, traffic down to one lane, the front window freezing  up so the windshield wipers barely worked and my eyes burning from the snow blindness; watching old men play petanque in the Tuileries in Paris and watching little kids push small sailboats with a stick across the ponds in French parks. 

Travel will happen again. I just hope I am not too old to hop on that plane and take that trip.

A few more books for those of you who still read!

 In no particular order, here are a few more books that I can either recommend or unrecommend.  

"The Searcher" by Tana French. I have mentioned French in previous posts. This novel is a stand-alone, none of her other "regular" characters are in it, just in case you were attached to the Dublin Murders Squad series. A retired American policeman leaves the U.S. and buys a rundown house in a small town in the Irish countryside. His goal is to be left alone and refurbish the house, take a lot of walks and drink pints in the local pub. While this seems like an easy undertaking, it isn't long before Cal Hooper gets involved with a poor, troubled kid trying to find out what happened to his brother. With Hooper's background as a detective from Chicago, he starts investigating this disappearance and his dream of being left alone is quickly overrun by the angst and anger his work creates in the small town.

French is sometimes a little dense, a little too wordy, but her descriptions of the countryside are beautiful, her characters are always great and fleshed out, the plot is always good and with a couple of good twists, this is an enjoyable novel. Just don't plan on breezing through it in two days.

Next up is "Monogamy" by Sue Miller, a prolific writer that I have enjoyed in the past. This novel has gotten a lot of play mainly because it is exciting to have a new novel from this excellent writer. The story is simple: two sort-of mismatched people meet, fall in love, get married, and then the husband, Graham, dies suddenly.  (Not a spoiler, we are told this on the book jacket.) His wife Annie tries to move on with her life but Graham was a larger-than-life kind of guy who expected Annie to live in his shadow, and now that he is gone, Annie has a difficult time finding her way out of that shadow. Plus, what she learns about Graham isn't always easy to take.

I liked the first third of this book, then didn't like it for the second third but by the time I was finished, I found myself thinking about it more than usual. Miller is a slow and thoughtful writer and she wants you to think about the characters, not just about what those characters are doing. She wants you to get to know them, even if you might not like them. It's a good read.

Moving on we come to "The Truants" by Kate Weinberg.  I have no idea why I put this on my library list, I must have been seduced by a good review. It's a debut novel (I should know better) and takes place at a college and has the usual assortment of unhappy students having affairs with each other and their teachers and strangers and in the end, who cares?  I didn't.

I also read "When No One Is Watching" by Alyssa Cole, a thriller of sorts, that was so contrived and manipulative that I couldn't finish it.

I also started the newest novel by Jody Picoult, "The Book of Two Ways" but never engaged with it.  Could be me, not the book.

Finally, I found a new author and read three of his books in a row. Matt Goldman writes detective novels and lots of stuff for TV, but the best things about his books are 1) they are quick, 2) they are very funny but not comedies, 3) they take place in Minnesota (!), and 4) I can download them onto my phone from the library.  The main character, Nils Shapiro, is a bit crazy and a lot smart. The crimes are odd and intriguing, but I just like the guy's sense of humor. If you found one in a used bookstore (yeah, like anyone goes shopping these days) it would be worth a buck or two to pick one up.

And that's all for now, folks. In addition to reading, I am on the last season (via Netflix) of the great TV show "West Wing" so the days of Jed Bartlett are almost over. The show goes off the air December 24, and I am determined to watch it to the end.

Hang in there. Stay at home. Don't breathe when other people are in the vicinity of your face. Stay warm. There are still lovely leaves on the trees, enjoy them while they last.

xo