FIVE STAR EXCELLENCE

CLASS IN THE DESERT
And on the screen
*Notes about Matthew and Woody below

    Since our move to California Cambria friends have sung the praises of the Indian Wells Tennis tournament in the southern California desert. Now we understand.

     A remarkable tennis oasis and "theatre." Stadium 1 is new.

   Stadium 2

   and several smaller stadiums, all blessed with stunning views.

  A complex of practice courts put you up close and personal

with the game's stars.

   Below Australian Open Champ, and number 3 in the world Stan Wawrinka tunes up.

   The close access to the game's headliners is a benefit of Indian Wells.

  Amenities abound in the Tennis Garden.

  The great thrill for fans is of course the action on the court. Roger Federer, on left below, is one of the game's all time greatest. 

   I've covered Presidents, rock stars, other major sports heroes. I was thrilled to see Fed.

   As impressive as Rafa Nadal is on television, he is even more so live and in person.

  Alexandra Wozniak

  Maria Sharapova and up and comer Camile Giorgi. Etc, Etc, etc...

    Among all of the sports, tennis fans are special.  Polite, cheering good play as well as their favorite.  Here it is 88-90 degrees, blazing desert sun and the stadium is full. 

   And since this is the desert a full day of tennis may well be capped by a dip, 

   and a cool drink and dinner.

  Many such oasis abound. A kind of desert survival.

ONE OF THE BEST 

   Much has been said of the noir HBO thriller True Detective as critics and fans have blown the doors off joint with praise and acclaim. As I've noted, it is not for everyone, but the Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson performances are without peer. And their "partnership" maybe the greatest on any screen. It is one of those rare moments when two excellent actors hit a zone and then construct an onscreen chemistry that will become legend.  I'm sorry the series has ended. They were nothing short of brilliant.

   See you down the trail.

CHIMES, FALLON, WATER

WHAT'S THE AFFECT OF 

CHRONIC CHIME LISTENING?

     Santa's gift to Lana, Sunrise Serenade Grace Note Chimes CDFGAC f/maj 6/9, have become a distinctive element of my daily soundscape.

       They are always appreciated, never distracting and somehow magic or hypnotic. They "score" the study view and are omnipresent.  Wonder how the vibrational harmony works on mind and body? They are made in Mariposa Ca, near Yosemite, some of the planet's most beautiful grandeur. They sound with a beauty and invoke a feeling of grandeur.

       There is a compounding effect as well. Both neighbors up the hill have their own chimes. There are afternoons when the Pacific breeze tickles the chimes here on the hill and we are treated to a rich symphony.  Never a bad note and always a sense of peace and calm, even when the breeze morphs to wind gusts.  Thanks to the person who gave us wind chimes.

  MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A RAIN DROP

    Drought mindful and water appreciative Californians find infinite ways to conserve, especially precious rainwater.  As we plan a larger water catchment system, Lana has ingeniously split rain drops into a portable and convenient sized irrigation system.

   Out of the spout into former kitty litter containers.

   She dutifully attends the containers in a rain and produces

portable reclaimed water for use on the hill. Since our flora is drought tolerant, the water goes a long way.

LIKE JOHNNY DID IT

     Jimmy Fallon is juicing the TONIGHT SHOW and is following the Johnny Carson game plan. 
       Some of you will recall when a young Johnny took over and won fans with his energy, wit and youthful humor, especially the bits he patented over the years. Ditto Fallon.  

       His New York set is reminiscent of Carson's era and the entrance from curtains is very much Johnny. Carson was quick and witty and so is Fallon. The Roots crew band is killer. Johnny visibly enjoyed his NBC band, especially the regular or guest drummers. Jimmy evinces that style of  relationship with Roots and he works them into sketches, much as Johnny did with Doc  Severinsen or Tommy Newsom.  

      He's using quick video inserts and bits in the knit of his monologue and in his work from home base. He's getting into the studio audience as did Johnny. He works his A list guests into bits and great moments at the desk. His enthusiastic manner, deep talent as a singer and impersonator combine well. He's creating his own signature skits. He's a generational shift, but then so too was Carson.

      Another great vibe is New York. 

      The difference at 11:30 from when America seemed to "wait up" to watch Johnny, is that we record and watch whenever. That of course means you don't have to abandon an old friend like Dave Letterman or forgo conversation with Charlie Rose.  

      See you down the trail.

     

IMPRESSIVE POWER and SOME SELFIE HUH?

BIG WATER

    It was no drought buster, but Central California got soaked the last few days. The 2-5 inches of rain was appreciated. The big story of the storm was the high surf.

       Piers were damaged in beach communities to the south. A few boats were beached and a wave smashed a window at a wharf restaurant giving a few people a scare. One worker was washed out of the building but walked out of the surf below the pier.

     Cambria's famous Moonstone Beach, all but disappeared  under the heavy surf.

    Massive drift wood pushed around like tinker toys.

OSCAR

    Did you watch the telecast?  What do you think? Wonder how many calls to pizza shops, Ellen prompted?  What a group selfie eh? Despite all of those famous faces, it looked pretty much like anyone else's-though our's don't crash Twitter.

    Did your choices win?  
    BTW we saw The Great Beauty this weekend. No wonder it's a winner.  I'd like to hear what some of you think about it-especially boomer men. 

    See you down the trail.

WHO IS RACIST? WHAT'S WITH THE SUSPENSION? and SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL

SLIDING BACKWARDS

     An agonizing disappointment to boomers is the new crop of racism that seems to be the spearhead of a wave of bigotry and narrow mindedness in the US.

     We spent the early and mid 60's fighting to end segregation, American apartheid and blatant discrimination. The entire culture was swept up in the drama and federal legislation moved to excise intolerance and set up an even playing field, imperfect and flawed though some of the legacy efforts have been. Feminism followed in that wake, connecting with efforts of earlier generations of suffrage campaigners to even the score for women. Still it seems as though it has been for naught.

      New studies and reports find a complex mix of racist attitudes in American today. Some of the young, the reports say, don't know or have not been taught what discriminatory or prejudicial behavior is.  "Post racial" is a term that is used.

      Then there is a poster child of our new dilemma, the matter of NIGGER. Some of you maybe offended seeing it here. Back in our youth it was a phrase never used in civil or polite conversation. Today its use is a map of how confused we seem to have become. Is it OK for African Americans to use the term, but not for anyone else? Though people of color divide on this. Is it wrong for a Caucasian to criticize its use or even to use the word? Depends on who you ask, doesn't it?  

       Remember the early argument about weather Black's could be racist?  Some who suggested that a person of color could also be a racist were themselves called racist. Today most agree that a person of any color or ethnicity can also be guilty of being racist, ethnocentric or bigoted in other ways.

        LGBT people have probably garnered more media attention for their struggles for equality in the last few years, though old fashioned racism has not disappeared. Classism stalks modern western life even as women still fight to overcome, the barrier being their birthright.

        From where I stand on this planet there is plenty of evidence of narrow mindedness, discrimination, fear, prejudice and hatred. The targets are men and women of all color, all ethnic origin, all gender identity or sexual preference. And so too are the perpetrators.

       It is easy to paint the broad stroke villain as being white men-Anglos/Normans/Saxons and in America in particular there is a sad history of invasion, genocide, land theft, broken treaties done by our government run mostly by white men. However there are many other guilty of such insensitivity and crimes around the globe with different casts of color, ethnicity, heritage and land of birth. We know that Africans too were partners in the horrible sin of slave trading. Patriarchy is written into the history of cultures north, south, east and west. American white men are in fact easy targets for criticism, but then if that is all who you see as offenders, you suffer tunnel vision and are not looking on a large enough scale of history and geography.  

      One of the most economic and employment vulnerable

today are legions of men, 50 plus, who were dislocated by the Great Recession and who are still out of work, unemployable or underemployed. Who in today's political climate are likely to carry their banner? Perhaps I should go cautiously here, less some of the dunderheads in our legislative branch of government who fail on intelligence about or understanding and sensitivity to half of the human specie, just might pick up that standard.  

     Our ability to find a commonweal, a set of normative values, a framework of equality, a true open-mindedness is honorable and necessary work for this democratic republic. It will be challenging, painful and will demand our better angels. To continue as we are with confusion, ignorance, rampant narrow-mindedness and condoned bigotry will lead only to apocalyptic political and cultural landscapes.

SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL

      On a recent hike I saw a couple of young California Striped Racers crossing the trail, enjoying the sun.

     The area was the scene of a recent "controlled burn."

     The sky was a palate of contrails.

HATS OFF TO THE SAN LUIS OBISPO TRIBUNE

   The paper editorialized today that William Randolph Hearst would have approved of Lady Gaga's recent adventure at his famous Castle, now a state park.  Nick Franco, the highly respected local State Park Supervisor has been suspended, for mysterious reasons, since approving of Gaga's use of the Hearst Castle for a production shoot.  

    Lady G paid some $300 thousand for the use, left additional funds to underwrite a water use study, did a promotional piece and a public service message about water conservation. The Hearst Corporation approved "loaning water" and the entire undertaking. Governor Jerry Brown wrote approvingly to Lady Gaga.

    The paper hints that perhaps some bureaucrat's nose may have been out of joint. Maybe or she is angry they missed their moment of closeness to her Lady G.

     Tsk, tsk, tsk.  Stay tuned.

    See you down the trail.  

WHO DETERMINES YOUR INFORMATION NEEDS? and ALONG THE CLIFF-THE WEEKENDER

SNOOPING IN THE NEWSROOM

     Have you followed the firestorm of comment about a proposed FCC study into newsroom decision making?  It's off! The FCC has junked the idea, as it should be.

       The concept, introduced late last year, was stupid for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was wrong. No one, no government agency, no consumer advocacy group, no corporate sponsor, no dunderheaded general manager or broadcast division ceo, no one should be involved in editorial, coverage, or content decision making except journalists and news personnel.  That is not because we are sainted with divine knowledge or know more about social good. No, in fact we can and have made poor decisions, but the right to make those decisions, in a nation where freedom of the press is constitutional, is the role of the press.  Over the long haul of American history, journalistic decisions have been more often right than wrong and more often in the public interest than against it.

       To work properly, the press needs to be free from interference of any sort.  Now we can argue about how well the press functions today, but that is an entirely different discussion. Still, the judgements made about what you read, see or hear from the news media need to emanate from a process that honors and hews to standards and judgements that are based on canons and codes of journalism and not from outside forces.  Historically we have been well served by the system, if not perfectly.

        Aside from the constitutional issue, there was the Orwellian level absurdity of the idea that a study could determine your, mine, or any one's "information needs"? Yes, we may have desires, curiosities and even a need for information, but in the beauty of this democratic republic the specifics of such are based on individual choices and lives. Community needs? Who determines "community?" 

        For a survey to try to ascertain "needs" and then measure or analyze how those "needs" were being met by newsroom decision making just opens so many trap doors on what is supposed to be a constitutionally protected process as to be fitting of a Paddy Chayefsky and/or George Orwell world. Or  even more fittingly a Stalinist or Hitlerian world of gulags and camps where offending journalists and readers are taught what happens to people who think for themselves or who dare to have "information needs" other than those proscribed by Big Brother or who may be in a "community" that is not sanctioned or deemed worthy or out of favor. See the hellish rat hole that ensues?

      This weekend I suspect liberals, conservatives, libertarians and anarchists can bang beer mugs, wine or cocktail glasses with real journalists in toasting the end of a bad idea. Here is an issue on which all of our tribes can agree. One less idiot idea, trotted out by a mindless Federal agency without serious forethought or consideration of implication. Free is free-even if you don't like what you see, hear or read. To the First-Cheers!

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

        You can read the latest post from Tim Cavenaugh here.  He first broke the story on the CIN. 

   

ALONG THE CLIFF

      On the way back I noted the additional message on the back of the Danger-Warning sign.

    Differing "community needs" maybe?

      See you down the trail.

McCONAUGHEY AGNOISTES and WHAT EMERGES FROM THE SEA

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY
IN CONFLICT

     Two current works have put Matthew McConaughey on the screen as an actor who has mastered the role of an agonist.  

      Most of the current buzz and accolades are for his remarkable role in Dallas Buyers Club. That role personifies this idea of a man in conflict-a hard partying rodeo cowboy/electrician homophobe who becomes an advocate- combatant in the early HIV/Aids crisis.

      True Detective writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto has given McConaughey the role of Rust Chole, a vehicle where the actor has taken complexity and a cosmic level of brooding to a new level of brilliance in a haunting performance that achieves mastery. 

      Pizzolatto's story line has McConaughey and partner Woody Harrelson as Martin Hart, move backwards and forwards in time as they encounter a bizarre and grizzly crime. The evolution and spin in the character Rust Chole, the nuance, ticks, tautness and unique personality is absolutely stunning to see. The ownership and  demonstration of the character is powerful enough that his behavior in the internal affairs interview process will establish a level of interpretation like that of Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle.

       Truce Detective is an acquired taste and its field of play is more gritty than some will appreciate.  As a young reporter I spent a few years on the street, during which time I covered the police beat and became friends particularly with a couple of homicide investigators. These guys lived that twilight reality 24/7 while I was merely a tourist. I am still haunted by things I encountered in that world where work begins after someones violent death. Pizzolatto, McConaughey and Harrelson weave a pattern of that life in an exotic drama. Once you see McConaughey's work, it will sear an impression upon you.  Powerful stuff on the screen.

SAN SIMEON COVE

    Evidence of a diverse yield from the Pacific was splayed around San Simeon Cove on a recent afternoon stroll.

      Wave action reveals pilings from an old pier, perhaps the original that William Randolph Hearst constructed to unload artifacts and remains of European villas, churches and objects of art for his own castle up the mountain.

   Pieces of whale vertebra are being unearthed by the sea.

     And only barely more lively are elephant seals, who have wandered far from the colony to find peaceful venues for a snooze.

      While this more junior member chose a spot on the parking lot.

See you down the trail.