I like summer movies. I like the wow moments. Sometimes you only get one or two and a lot of dreck in-between. Last year TRANSFORMERS set a new standard for me by being almost completely without merit...except that the number of genuine WOW moments went into the double digits!--I loved it! And now this summer, we're getting wow moments in the threes and fours...and...what's this?...there's some pathos and acting and (gasp) STORYTELLING happening at the movies this summer. Corporate cinema gets a clue? What strange universe is this...?

Here's my ranking (btw I admit I am fickle and my opinions may relate to my own happiness level or whether I overate at lunch time...but so far...)

1. Wall E
Simply beautiful. This one doesn't really belong in the list with these others. Though I must admit, the pace of it has kept me from rushing back to see it again as I did Nemo, Monsters, and Ratatouille. If I could just pay $2 a pop and watch the short, I'd do that several times, for sure.

2. Tropic Thunder
So incredibly funny and only offensive to people who think dumb Hollywood-types should not be the butt of jokes. Those are the only people being mocked. And they are well and cleverly mocked indeed! I will say that the over-the-top gore does require a very post-modern suspension of suspension of disbelief. If you forget to disbelieve even for a second, it's pretty icky.

3. Indiana Jones
Yes it is silly but the sheer spectacle of it screams "ONLY Spielberg and Lucas can do this!" I loved it from beginning to end. The first three are silly, too, folks.



4. Hellboy 2
A fast-paced comic-book movie with good dialogue, interesting characters and genuine surprises! Fancy that!! btw I fell asleep in the first one and did not regret it.

5. Kung Fu Panda
The first non-Pixar computer animated venture that offers some aesthetic inventiveness of which the Pixar crew must surely take note. And it's very funny, in spite of a hackneyed plot.

6. Horton Hears a Who
This made me laugh a LOT. And I was emotionally involved, too.

7. Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr takes it up a notch.

8. Hancock
Bad reviews lowered my expectations and it exceeded them! I enjoyed the whole thing...though I'm coming to assume that all hero movies will have a big, dumb, loud yawner of an ending and this was no exception to that rule.

9. The Incredible Hulk
Genuinely sympathetic characters and a wow moment or two...with another humdrum finale.

10. Journey to the Center of the Earth
We saw this solely for the neato factor of the 3D. And I'm totally jaded in this department...and yet it made me go NEATO a lot. So there. Damn dumb. But neato.

----------------------------------------------
And then there was
X. Speed Racer
Wow, this was the 2nd worst movie I've seen this year. Truly a shade-your-eyes-in the-back-row experience of swimming in neon vomit.

X. X-Files 2
This was inexcusable. I am a fan; I liked the first movie. This was squirmingly, inexplicably dull.

Yet to see:
Prince Caspian
The Dark Knight
Encounters at the End of the World
The Visitor
Harold and Kumar Fish for Nuggets
???

Emily composed these few words about Loving Day for the back of our wedding program. I was very proud to have them there and to be marrying the woman who wrote them...

(Oh, and when she e-mailed them to me, her e-mail included the Richard Wright quote which appears at the bottom of all her e-mails...about which I feel similarly, so I've included it too...but it doesn't actually come from our wedding program)

_________________________________
Loving Day

In 1948, exactly 60 years ago, interracial marriage was legalized in California. But it was not until 1967 that Loving v. Virginia, a landmark civil rights case, culminated in a Supreme Court decision which legalized interracial marriage throughout the United States. We cannot help but compare the history of the anti-miscegenation laws that the Loving decision declared unconstitutional to the current marriage equality movement for same-sex partnerships.

We would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriages in California. We are honored to be celebrating our marriage in a historic time, when we can stand in solidarity with all of our loved ones.

“…I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.” - Mildred Loving

_________________________________
"If you possess enough courage to speak out who you are, you will find that you are not alone." Richard Wright

Seriously. It's like I have become this weird, sporty stranger to myself who waves jovially across a great chasm of inertia to another me, sitting on a couch eating Chinese food and ice cream, raising a spoon bemusedly, squinting back at me with a suspicious expression that says...heh heh...Whatever, freaky hiker boy...do I...do I know you...?

I'm getting married and this has brought about some reflection. (One might hope it would.)

Things I Want to Do:
1. Climb a hill to a clear place at night with a child in my care and learn the constellations (muliticultural-style) with her.
2. See a noise rock show in a dank Tokyo club.
3. Finish Ulysses.
4. Become a parent who is emotionally competent enough that my kids' developmental struggles are largely their own and not inherited from me.
5. Learn to box and then spar regularly.
6. Witness an active American political pantheon as diverse as the folks around Lake Merritt on a Sunday afternoon.
7. Visit Luxembourg and hike or bike.
8. Sing “You’re the One” by the Vogues to Emily with a full band and harmonies and such.
9. Shake bell hooks’ hand and say “thanks.”
10. Dance to angry music in Berlin.
11. Systematically decrease fear among the privileged strata of our nation so they tend unwittingly to step on other people a little less.
12. Hear gamelan in Bali.
13. Do 100 (back-friendly?) sit-ups in a row.
14. Shake Noam Chomsky’s hand and say “thanks, dude.”
15. Hike in Yellowstone, Canada, Colorado and West Virginia.
16. Paint something that makes me smile with real paint on real canvas.
17. Write an autobiography for fun.
18. Bicycle to the top of Mount Tamalpais from San Francisco.
19. Meditate regularly until I like it.
20. Visit Geneva and befriend a native.
21. Use no caffeine for a full month.
22. Write/direct/shoot/edit a narrative movie/video.
23. Eliminate credit card debt from my life.
24. Make a This American Life style audio documentary.
25. DJ a rock and roll radio show.
26. Make pancakes and scrambled eggs with my kid(s).
27. Record a second album of songs.
28. Mountain Bike the Priest Rock trail in Los Gatos/San Jose hills.
29. Write a book with talking critters in it and get someone to illustrate it.
30. Love and cherish all those within my sphere (including myself) relentlessly.
31. Do the same for those outside my sphere with careful, deliberate dollar-votes and hopeful, Green booth-votes.
32. Remain calm.

On June 14, 2008, 6 intrepid hikers climbed from the Mountain Home Inn astride Muir Woods up to the East Peak of Mount Tamalpais and them on down to the Pacific Ocean!

Mud sent me GPS data...it was 11.6 miles with a pretty remarkable elevation profile...

Yay!

:)
Mike

So, trekking poles rule. Down is as much fun as up for the first time in years...
Does everyone know that Brian May completed his doctorate in Astrophysics and is now Dr. Brian May? This makes me happy. Guitarist/songwriter for Queen...and astrophysicist. His thesis is entitled Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.

I recently went to the top of Eagle Peak near Mount Diablo, listening to Poulenc's sacred choral works while watching swallows barnstorm the peak as a turkey vulture hovered above me, waiting for something. Then I had another perfect moment driving back from the Steep Ravine Trail, bellowing Patsy Cline's "Why Can't He Be You?" at the top of my lungs, which segued to Slipknot and then Raymond Scott as I passed the Mill Valley 7-11, bopping giddily and reflecting on the large branch that nearly brained me at the end of its descent from the canopy above Steep Ravine. My fingers and face had tingled with adrenaline as I huffed and puffed from darting up the trail, looking back just in time to see what I'd heard crackling ominously directly above my head hit the ground where I'd stood. Yikes! Hiking on a weekday between clients. Life can be very good.

Sugar-free for 45 days, weigh less than an 8th of a ton, soon to be gloriously wed, business is booming, hikes are happening, commas are splicing...I have an incredible craving for rollercoasters and old friends...

And this bears repeating (as this Bear's repeating):
from 10/22/05
I hardly ever step onto a scale, just because it has been invariably disappointing for
many years and even when I'm living healthfully and feeling better, the scale has
tended to say "Hah! But look at your numbers, Butterball!" so, as I've learned
to do with people whose messages are discouraging to me, I ignore it.

But today, curiosity overcame me and I stepped up to find that I weigh just over
an eighth of a ton. I'm about 253 pounds. That means I have somehow lost
about 130 pounds in the past few years. In fact, I'm probably 40 or 50 pounds
lighter than the guy in my profile picture there. So, my question is this, can you forgive
me if I'm a little angry at all the skinny people who keep telling me how thin I look?
Can you folks just keep it to yourself please? Or save it and go tell a beautiful
heavy person how wonderful she/he looks? Or even an ugly one?

I was a beautiful human being at every weight. It was only because I realized this
and decided to concentrate on my health in honor of my Mom's (and countless others')
inability to choose her (their) corporeal fate that I look different now. OK, that is not
the whole truth--I also became very afraid that I would never experience passionate
romance again because I was too far off of the radar of so many women. Opening
this door a little wider was also an act of self-love, but I'm finding that as I creep
onto the radar of the more shallow among us, I'm often repelled. Not so
much by each well-meaning individual, but by the nauseating social cost of the
attitudes expressed again and again by people around me. Can we please try to let our
bodies be and value one another on other bases, like, habitually,
as a society? Perhaps I should focus my request on my own stratum,
HEY white middle class men, grow up and think about what you're perpetuating!
In so many realms... Let's not hate ourselves anymore! Especially when that self-hate,
in the hands of the dimwittedly privileged, trickles down (and sometimes
BARRELS down) into all manners and manifestations of self-hatred and self-destruction
among other members of this society. And I'm not disempowering
non-white non-male folks, suggesting that they are hapless victims of
white male dominance...no it is obvious all around me that strong people with the
courage to love self and others are actively and powerfully rejecting the weight
of racist-sexist-capitalist-patriarchy. But I would like my own kind to make it
easier for those folks to thrive by simply taking responsibility for whatever effect
our privilege and self-satisfied ignorance has had on social ills, and to
change ourselves accordingly.

Hmmm. Sorry. I was talking about weight, wasn't I.

So, I am asking for a favor from those around me. Call me crazy, but when I hear
"You've lost weight!" I actually hear "Your value as a human being has increased
because you are more attractive to the shallow folk who cast the dollar-votes that
decide what happens in this capitalist nightmare world!" (Really, it's OK to call me crazy)
But for some reason when I hear, "You look great!" it's completely different.
That phrase registers in me more as it is intended--like all my
hiking and community building and hard work and healthy habits and learning to
truly love myself and others can actually be detected in my physical presence. I know
this may not be what people mean, but it makes all the difference to me. I know
this is all in my head--that's why I say it's a favor I'm asking. And while I'm at it, let me
also ask that you take a look at someone who does not strike you immediately as
looking "great" and take a closer look and find the beauty there and compliment them.
Of course you probably do that already and I'm just irritating you now...
Anyway, I should shut up and take my own advice first.
We are all unmitigated miracles. You will never convince me otherwise.

God bless.

:)
Mike

New picturey blog post over at blog.myspace.com/milfus

:)

Midlake show. Incredible. I don't know if I have EVER left a show wanting to listen to the band I just heard, right away, but this one (9/27 Great American Music Hall) I did. My back was hurting and my feet were numb by the time they came on (just cuz I'm not 20 and I wanted to be at the front so I'd stood there since 7:45), but as soon as they started to play...I forgot all about my back and my feet! I was just giddy and mesmerized. It was funny to be a little chagrined because I was such an obvious overgrown fanboy, and I look like them...bearded guys in t-shirts with mussed hair, but dammit I've looked like this for like 20 years! And who really cares? So we share an aesthetic that involves both music and grooming; fine.
Harmonies were crystal clear and spot on... Oh so good. Please give this album a close listen. It's subtle, sweet genius. They're all jazz guys with music degrees from the University of North Texas who converted to rock and roll after hearing OK Computer in 1997. There sometimes can be more money in rock and roll than jazz, you know, sometimes. I can so get behind that story.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, I've decided not to pursue classroom teaching but instead to try and start making a living as a tutor/learning solutions guy. I'm really good at it; it's my favorite thing I've ever done; people are making a living at it...so why not?! It is very, very frightening to watch the savings dwindle while I do my durndest to build a reputation (because reputations aren't built in a day, dontcha know) but I've found some work that I am enjoying tremendously and my Craig's List ad is getting some hits...So I just have to do my best, take advice, keep my priorities straight and TRUST...
But it's hard to trust. I'm not sleeping well. At some point each day I want to curl up in a fetal position and wimper or else ride that magic BART train to the moon I used to fantasize about when I didn't want to BART into the law firm for another day. Maybe that's what this IS. I'm actually on my BART train to the moon. Bang zoom! Not so much.
So there is great excitement and terror and joy and sadness and gain and loss. If I turn down the drama-phone, it's just good ol' change. I'm keeping anchored in some of the comforts I love best--my SF Jail speaking engagement is now every second Friday and I help return a church basement to its pre-meeting glory every Saturday morning; I've offered to tutor for free at a Bayview school until those hours are taken by paying clients; biking and urban-hiking on alternate days--And service and exercise seem to help with the drama-reduction a great deal.
Not to mention the astonishing, relentless support and care and kindness and love I am getting from Emily--my stunningly gorgeous, brilliant, dynamic, creative and kind girlfriend--who has invited me into her life beyond all possible expectations. And what a wonderful life to join! We make a really, really great team. Mutual admiration society, love, laughter, serious conversation, silence, plans, spontaneity, acceptance....no, not acceptance, genuine cherish-ment of our genuine selves on all sides. And I cannot imagine when I would have mustered the courage to step out of my familiar job into this economic unknown without Emily in my world. Thank you, Emily.
I'm moving to Oakland in October, into Emily's amazing, lovely house. And when she says she wants it to be not her house but our house when we both live there, I believe her. Call me crazy...

I'm beginning to feel less hike-organizery, so if you want to go for a hike but would like to invite me because I know a lot of trails, let's plan it!!!

Cheers all!

Tutoring Promo
For your consideration:
kermitbubbleboy.net/mlmtutor2.wmv

Pass it on!

kermitbubbleboy.net/treatise.wmv

or

www.youtube.com/watch

Martha needs a new home.

She's about 9 years old, affectionate and independent. She is an indoor cat who may be able to be with other cats but will take a LONG time to adjust. She's accustomed to canned food twice a day, though five ounces once a day is fine too, and she is very good about using her litter box and almost never coughs up anything unpleasant. If her nails are clipped monthly she won't scratch up a thing--if not she might claw the carpet just a little bit. She's a sweet little feline princess, with boundless grace and affection for her human co-habitants.
I hate to lose her but my new home (by 11/1/07) is a cat-free place and, well, she is undeniably feline.
Please spread the word to gentle, responsible friends. Martha's ideal home would keep her entirely indoors (she lacks street-smarts) and provide a lap and a gentle hand for a few minutes each day. She has been getting Advantage on a monthly basis for most of her life, so she is utterly flea-free. However, it should be noted that if she is exposed to even one flea, she is quite allergic and becomes miserable almost at once. Advantage makes this a non-issue.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you can help!

Cheers!
Mike

Oh! And if you know anyone who needs a tutor, show them this!: kermitbubbleboy.net/mlmtutor5.wmv

Thanks all!!!