Floating Ideas
Should we take solace from the fact that tech whizzes are as vulnerable as the general population or should we be angry about this failure? Headline from nypost.com: “Apple, Facebook fell for scam and gave user data away to hackers: report.”
An NYP article by Hannah Frishberg relates an interesting controversy. Is the beautiful structure below a house or a boat? Officials have slapped a $120,000 tax bill on it that the owner is fighting. It can travel up to five MPH and is environmentally correct, solar-powered and rain-collecting. Seems like clever tax evasion. Given the government price tag, who can blame him/her?
Last night Movies!, channel 5–2 on OTA in NYC, ran Three Godfathers (1936), a terrific western remade in 1947 starring John Wayne. I’m not going to compare the two, as time has fogged the latter in my memory. The original stars Chester Morris, Walter Brennan and Lewis Stone as outlaws who, while fleeing a robbery, come across a woman and her baby in the Arizona desert. When the young mother dies, the elder, played by Stone, takes charge of the infant, to the chagrin of the cold-blooded character played by Chester Morris. When the horses die, the trek must be completed on foot. When it leaves the old-timer near death, he encourages the character played by Walter Brennan to take the child. When later the water runs out, the latter walks off to die, leaving the child’s fate to the murderer. Given the title, it is obvious what he will do, but it doesn’t make the narrative any less compelling. Without beating the viewer over the head, preaching, it becomes a tale of redemption, at least that’s how I saw. Can such lives be redeemed? It is a great question. Brennan is, as usual, brilliant. Morris is fine. I really enjoyed Lewis Stone’s turn as the Shakespeare-quoting older desperado. If there is an explanation for his turning to a life of crime, I missed it. Still, I was engrossed by his words and deeds. His career spanned 1915-’53, the year he was taken by a heart attack at 73. There are 152 titles under his name at IMDb, not a single one in TV. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in The Patriot (1928). He is best known for his work as Judge Hardy in 16 Andy Hardy movies. Other notable films in which he appeared are: Grand Hotel (1932), Treasure Island (1934), David Copperfield (1935), Angels in the Outfield (1951) and All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953), his last. He saw action in the Spanish-American War and WWI. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records as “Artist with the Longest Contract to One Studio.” He worked for MGM from 1924 until his death, quite a legacy. Here are Morris, Stone and Brennan in character:
Morris went on to star as reformed safecracker Boston Blackie in 14 films and on radio. Brennan, one of Hollywood’s all-time great scene stealers, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor four times, winning three.
It wasn’t as warm as advertised but fine for doing business curbside, especially since the rain held off. My thanks to the woman who bought two textbooks on Spanish instruction and five classical CDs, and to the gentleman and lady who combined to buy three hardcovers in Russian; and to the man who donated a handful of best sellers. My profit margin regarding my own books increased for the second straight quarter, despite my having bought 14 books. The only thing that would push it back into negative territory is if Amazon decides to eliminate my books due to poor sales. That would lead me to buy a bunch of copies to sell on the street. Six of my books are profitable, one is at the break even point, another is one sale away from being in the black. Five are in the red.
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