Da Best of...

2012 is that annual predictions do not come true. While waiting for engagements to stir my fancy this year, a strange and delicious phenomenon happened to me...I read the entire Harry Bosch series by Michael Connolly. In a stupor. I couldn't get enough of the LA cop, Dupar's, Philippe's, Gorky's, Figueroa, etc. etc. Bosch was crack. I was living la vida film noir. My skin turned pasty. Who cared  what happened on CNN. After Bosch was there life, and other pulpy spines to crack. Yes! In no particular order the short list of good reads: 'Bring up the Bodies'. If you haven't read Mantel, start with 'Wolf Hall.' 'The Sisters Brothers,' by Patrick DeWitt. A Western nugget. 'Gone Girl,' by Gillian Flynn. JesusH! 'The Wild' by Cheryl Strayed. 'The Beauty of the Real,' by Mick LaSalle. And one stray from the past, 'Life,' by Keith Richards. A diamond in the rough. If you finished it, you can brag. I did. And I am. A hella of a bio which will make you marvel. And because we all like to watch, movies which were worthy of a big screen: 'The Dark Knight Rises.' ' Argo.' 'Bernie.' 'Moonlight Kingdom.' 'The Master.' 'Skyfall.' 'Farewell My Queen.' And, 'Django Unchained.' Ohhh, how that one plucked my spaghetti western heartstrings! To see them is to love them. Year of the Snake almost here, my friends.

'The Conversation of Prayer...' D. Thomas

Charlotte Bacon. Daniel Barden. Rachel Davino. Olivia Engel. Josephine Gay. Ana M. Marquez-Greene. Dylan Hockley. Dawn Hochsprung. Madeline F. Hsu. Catherine V. Hubbard. Chase Kowalski. Jesse Lewis. James Mattioli. Grace McDonnell. Anne Marie Murphy. Emilie Parker. Jack Pinto. Noah Pozner. Caroline Previdi. Jessica Rekos. Avielle Richman. Lauren Rousseau. Mary Sherlach. Victoria Soto. Benjamin Wheeler. Allison N. Wyatt.

Our Children. Our Teachers.

...'Can you picture what will be...'

Feel compelled today, what with NPR giving the 'end of the world' robust coverage. Just saying I'm not quite there yet. And anyway, since you learn everything from the telly and big screen films, I don't see an asteroid parked on our doorstep a la 'Melancholia' by Lars von Trier, nor have I heard of a speeding meteor heading for splash down on planet earth. So, send up the bat signal, and pass the donuts, please

1. This has been a hella year for women on the telly. Leading the field is a Danish production called Borgen which means government or the castle. Starring Sidse Babett Knudsen as Brigitte Nyborg who becomes the first PM of Denmark, this is unequivocally, the gold standard, the mother lode of all which ever came before or will ever follow. There is already talk of an American adaptation. Why? Because Americans are too lazy to read subtitles. With 2 seasons in the can, do yourself a favor, and watch
one of the finest Euro productions to stream this way.

2. The Hour. I wrote about it last year, and this season it broke from the gate running and is even better. How is that possible? Romola Garai as Bel Rowley is brilliant. And her Bel to Ben Whishaw's, Freddie, is scintillating, heady, and awash with all the stuff you yearn for in dialogue. Vivid. And memorable. Gdamn the Brits are good! 

3. Homeland. The shark jumping series which loves to remind you that it's 24 creators love trolling the briny blue etc. Clare Danes in a role which left her treading chum infested waters for every implausible fracking episode, yeah, big fist bump to you. Wobbly chin, and googly eyes, Danes was the best we had on this side of the ocean in a ridiculous, sphincter tightening, moronic (yes) production which some of us could not stop watching.

4. Lena Dunham. Talent. Talent. Talent. Glimpse, you tube: Your first time.

5. Real life imitates art. Props to Park Geun-hye, the first woman, elected President of South Korea.

And so it goes....

As If....

1. I went back and forth...should I or shouldn't I toss gasoline on the flames, and dog pile my boos onto the cascading chorus. Cause, baby, anyway you try and spin it, the new UC logo is fucking awful. Alums are pissed; students embarrassed; and staff are circulating a petition to have it removed. Never have so many been so united over a cause. And that's damn hard to do in Berkeley. Seriously, was the logo designed on the farm in  Palo Alto? Because, really, it's a joke. Two vivid descriptions keep cycling to the surface: 1. a flushing toilet bowl. 2. a half assed C frozen in dial up modem hell. Come on, now. The University of California is one of the greatest public institutions in the land. Fix this! Someone put your big boy pants on, and take it back. Because the logo is the biggest WTF to ever hit the campus since 1968...

2. Two weeks ago, gully washer barreling down my street. Today, warm Indian summer weather. Down at the docks watching the ships stream by. Water glistening like jewels. I understand the allure of the ocean, the pull it might have on seafaring laddies. When I was in the islands last month, I saw the 'green flash' unexpectedly. Over the years, there were days I looked for it; eyes concentrating, the last rays of the sun sinking comfortably into the under belly. But on that day, I stepped out to the lanai,my mind filled with thoughts like: "I'm not eating enough greens, here. Or, am I in television hell? When is my fucking broken toe going to heal?"when the sun started to sink, and wham, in a precious nano second, the green flash zapped the horizon. All Lourdes like, priceless.

3. Manny Pacquiao. Manny. Manny. Manny. Mitt Romney and Ann visited his dressing room before the fight on Saturday night in Vegas. Knocked out cold in the 6th round for 2 minutes, maybe Manny should consider shaking up his pre-fight rituals. Just saying...