TOUGHER THAN TRUMP

Echoes of a frontier-Eastern Slope of the Sierra

   I wonder how many of us are as tough as our ancestors.

   Seeing a shell of a cabin in the windswept high valley of the Sierra I marvel at the men and women who cut lonely lives in hostile and isolated environments. They were made of tough stuff.

   So was the WWII "greatest generation," especially the Brits. Their survival of the German blitz-the bombing campaign against London is heroic. There's an epic new film that adds another chapter to that kind of tough-Dunkirk.

    When up to 400 thousand British and French Soldiers were cut off, pinned down by Germans along the French shore across the channel from Dover, a hellish slaughter was imminent. The best the Churchill government could plan was to evacuate some 30 thousand. That was until British citizens created the most unlikely armada in history and evacuated more than 300 thousand troops.

    Director Christopher Nolan has created an ingenious, multifaceted way to recount one of the 20th Centuries towering achievements. Dialogue is sparse-but the acting is brilliant. Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy and Harry Styles imprint this heroic story deeply in your mind.

    There it is, in large format, the kind of history we need to know. When I heard the words of Churchill, famous words now, I could not escape a comparison to Donald Trump.

leadership and character

   Thank God we were led by men of character, stature, intelligence and courage, qualities that do not exist in the barely literate megalomaniac who angry and disturbed people put into office, against the majority. 

     Character counts and that is proven by history. We can hope Providence protects us from an epic occurrence as long as trump remains in office.

    He is not tough. He is a bully instead and he continues to betray his appalling ignorance. Recently he accused the New York Times of interfering with pursuit of a terrorist. He was summarily body slammed by the facts, again. 

    Generations of ancestors have proven they are tougher than challenges that descend upon them, or enslave them, or deny them, or cheat them, or seek to destroy them. Our generation faces the accidental challenge and assault from our own president. 
     John McCain's illness is tragic. He is a genuine hero and I hope someone pushes trump to offer an apology. That a blogger even need write such a thought, bespeaks how far this leader is from being worthy to be called a commander.
    We are tougher and smarter. America is greater and bigger than the trump aberration. 

     It is not unlike the German bombers that struck London, or tried to kill lines of troops on the sands at Dunkirk, they did not prevail. Many of them went down in flames, just as this White House is in the midst of doing. 

at bay

out on a limb

more tough

    Can't help but marvel at the mental toughness of Jordan Spieth. The newly crowned and young British Open Champion overcame his own bad game and control. He was almost out of it when his steel became apparent and he prevailed to claim his first British title. Cheers!

     See you down the trail.

BIG CONCEPTS, SPLITTING TIME, SHOWING GREEN

A CONGRESS OF DANCERS

Yucca plants thrive in desert zones and give the terrain a populated feeling.

 They add color and texture to the brown and sand scape tones. They remind me of clusters of gesticulating dancers.

LOOKING FOR GREEN

    Following three years of drought Californians are beginning to see tinges of winter green. Two small rain showers in the last couple of weeks have charged the grazing slopes with something on which to graze.

  There is precious little green but even that softens the concrete gray and brown of the dry slopes. 

AN EPIC RIDE

    Everything about INTERSTELLAR is big. Big name cast, director, story, themes, concept and running time. 
     Christopher Nolan is an accomplished director and movie maker. He uses his full skill range in writing a storyline and then turning it into a film that is adventure, heartwarming, thrilling, mind bending, and stunning.  But it is long.
     Mathew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jane Chastain, Casey Affleck, Matt Damon, John Lithgow and Michael Caine  live up to their reputations.  Josh Stewart and Bill Irwin as TARS and CASE, on board computers, were terrific. In fact I'd love to have one of those around here.
      Planet degradation, government cut backs in science, family dynamics, parental love, black holes, and time space continuums are all treated as part of the story line.  Unexpected but nicely handled was the scene where a teacher upbraids McConaughey and his daughter for using a text book that teaches about the Apollo flights to the moon. The teacher insists that was all propaganda by the US to force the Soviet Union to spend more than they had on space research. 
      There is a lot to this big and epic film and you'll need to enjoy sic-fi, science, space, action and mental riddles to love it. Lana enjoyed it less than I did. A buddy with whom we saw the film said it was a bit long.  However there is an act, series of scenes, where time, a moment in time, is portrayed across a spectrum of realities, dimensions and time itself. It was stunning to see as it played and I've found that I continue to roam back over the concept and the visualization of it. If theoretical physics could have been taught in such a way, I might have been seduced by that sense of "reality."  It will stretch your head a bit.  Or not! At any rate I'd like to put TARS or CASE on my Christmas gift wish list.

    See you down the trail.