Behavior
Are these people fools or pioneers in the fight against corona? Two headlines from nypost.com: “Hundreds gather for secret rave under NYC’s Kosciuszko Bridge.”
And this from Illinois: “Hundreds gather without masks for annual ‘White Trash Bash’ boat event.”
Good news in the fight from an article at NYP: “Critically ill COVID-19 patients recovered rapidly from respiratory failure after three days of treatment with RLF-100, a therapy granted fast-track designation in the U.S..
From an NYP article by Nicole Gelinas: “More than 67 million people — 42% of the American labor force — are working at home full-time right now.”
James Franco seems to be an artist who is a magnet for derision. I have no idea why. In the works of his I’ve viewed, he seems very talented. There are 150 titles listed under his name as Actor at IMDb, 39 as Director, most of the latter in short works. He wrote several screenplays, about half of them shorts, before he tried his hand at fiction. A copy of Palo Alto, a collection of stories, came my way via a donation to the floating book shop. Based on his experiences growing up in that area, it features primarily characters in their early to mid-teens. Each piece is a first person account, frequently awkward but clear. It takes place in the days just before cell phones became prominent. There is much use of tobacco, alcohol and marijuana. These kids have a license I did not know as a square growing up in the mid ‘60’s. I related only to the sexual urges, although I didn’t have the license for that in my teens that most of those in the stories have. Is it representative of the average teenager of today? I have no idea. Although the tales are well-told and authentic, all except the last, a father-sons hiking excursion to Yosemite, are similar, repetitive. Several players are featured throughout the book. 211 pages, it reads like a lot less. 298 readers at Amazon have rated Palo Alto, forging to a consensus of 3.9 on a scale of five. My rating is 2.5. Franco has since written a novel, two volumes of poetry and other pieces. According to Amazon, the publication of Palo Alto was in 2014. Oddly, the film version was released in 2013. Gia Coppolla, grand-daughter of Francis Ford, niece of Sofia, directed, her only full length feature to date. She has done several short works. It returned less than a million at the box office. Perhaps it was too downbeat to attract a wide audience. I will not add it to my Netflix list. I don’t find the subject interesting enough. There is also a TV series, 66 episodes, of the same title. I did not find Franco’s name among the credits, although the theme seems the same. My hunch is the book would appeal almost exclusively to teens. I suspect adults, especially parents, would not want to know their kids are doing such things.
Movies!, channel 5–2 on over the air antennas in NYC, ran another flick I’d never seen, part of its Sunday Night Noir series. Knock on Any Door (1949) is the story of a young criminal accused of murder, played by John Derek, and his lawyer, played by Humphrey Bogart. Directed by Nicholas Ray, adapted from the novel by Willard Motley, it is effective until Bogie’s soliloquy after the verdict is rendered, which makes society culpable for the crimes of someone who grew up in the slums. I may have believed that to some degree at one time, but somewhere along the way I started believing in personal responsibility. The rant seems an insult to the overwhelming majority who grew up under similar circumstances and didn’t turn to crime.
The shade and breeze along Avenue Z made conditions pleasant for the floating book shop. My thanks to Wolf, who went home with a boatload of CDs of Russian musical artists, and to the burly gentleman who bought a compilation of Shirley Temple DVDs and Selena (1997); and to the woman who purchased three paperback thrillers; and to my constant benefactress, who didn’t bring books today but chose The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory; and to the gentleman who selected a novel in Russian; and to Mike, who donated three books on food; and to the gentleman who dropped off several tour guides, which I brought to the lobby of our co-op. Two focused on restaurants, many of which are closing in NYC. Few people are dining out these days.
My Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Fortezza/e/B002M4NLJE
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