Work-Life Balance
Here’s today’s Can’t Make This Stuff Up headline, from foxnews.com: “Ivy League professor says he hits heroin regularly for ‘work-life balance.’” Does it hit back?… And here’s a surprising liberals criticizing liberal one: “ACLU calls Biden guidance on ICE arrests, deportations ‘disappointing step backward.’” No you may not. You may take one baby step… And an amusing one: “Jennifer Aniston fans slam David Letterman for licking her hair in resurfaced clip gone viral: ‘Gross.’” She must have used a fruity shampoo he couldn’t resist.
While I find winter very annoying in real life, I’ve always loved a snowy setting in film. Blood and Money (2020) is set against such a landscape in Maine. I watched it last night courtesy of Netflix by mail. It’s the story of a Vietnam vet, recovered alcoholic, fighting cancer, ably played by grizzled old pro Tom Berenger. The pace is deliberate, even when it evolves from existential angst to thriller. I didn’t mind, especially since the running time is only 89 minutes. Although it is a familiar tale, it is well-told. I won’t play the spoiler by revealing anymore. The movie is a tweener, likely to disappoint fans of drama as well as action fare. Its violence is hardcore but not the gross-out variety. It was directed, shot and co-written by John Barr (revisions by Alan Petherick), his first full length feature. There are 19 titles under his name at IMDb in the category of cinematographer. His skill is on full display in the flick. I look forward to his future work. 1000+ users at IMDb have rated Blood…, forging to a consensus of 5.1 on a scale of ten, too low in my estimation. As for Berenger, he’s been at it since 1975, beginning with a 66 episode run on the One Life to Live soap. He will be best remembered for The Big Chill (1983), Platoon (1986), Major League (1989) and The Sniper series. Perhaps he will add another highlight before he’s done. Married four times, he has six kids.
Shoveling out the endmost spot in front of the Chase bank yesterday paid off for the floating book shop today. It was available as soon as I rolled up. The only negative was the huge puddle in the driveway, which forced me to carry the boxes and crates around the front end of the old Hyundai. My thanks to Johnny Boy, who bought Nimitz Class by Patrick Robinson, Bangkok Haunts by John Burdett and The Complete Maus, an illustrated lampoon of Nazis by Art Spiegelman; and to Bill, who purchased Nashville Babylon: The Uncensored Truth and Private Lives of Country Music’s Stars by Randall Riese; and to the gentleman who selected Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
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