Rock 'n' Roll sitting down with Matthew Sweet at Yoshi's

(:)(:)(:)(:) Four enthusiastic snouts up for Matthew Sweet at Yoshi's San Francisco Jazz Club in the Fillmore district.  I don't even know this Athens, Ga- launched rocker, but I was blown away by his power pop music last night.  Apparently he's been around a long time.  This year he's touring by playing his 20 year old "Girlfriend" album song for song in order.  My husband tells me this is a thing.

What is also clearly a thing is watching a head-banging, kick out the jams, bash into your neighbor show, while politely sitting down nodding your head a little and sipping your $13 Grey Goose gimlet at a jazz club.  Sigh.  I guess this was inevitable when the main audience for rock 'n' roll hit an average age of 60 but c'mon people, this was an amazing show.  All but one of these songs could go head to head with REM, Fountains of Wayne, and even during the encores--the ENCORES--my husband and I were the only people standing up (and it wasn't just because we had to pee).

I'm influenced by the fact that my Grey Goose gimlet was amazingly strong and since I almost never drink and when I do it's not in public, I felt very very head-spinning by the end of this slammin' show.

My instinct, and granted, I am a spring chicken 50, was to jump up and completely frantically dance to their first encore, "I'm sick of myself"--a phenomenal song capturing a concept near and dear to my heart.

Has it really come to this, people!?  I guess so.  I also have to say that I'm not wild about the playing an album in order of song thing.  Some of his best tracks were (because when people listened to entire albums in order this used to matter) early in the album, so were barely in our seats before songs that we would normally be, well, in our seats for during the encore were played.

Absent that, he had an amazing lead guitarist and an impish bassist with an appealing look and sound and a competent drummer.  Great show and yes, I have to admit, I was perfectly happy to sit down for most of it.  I do not like standing for entire shows either--but a mixture!?

(:)(:)(:)(:) for the Descendants

Four enthusiastic snouts up for The Descendants in theaters everywhere.  I even toyed with awarding 5 snouts here, but the kids reminded me that as I reserve 5 snouts for movies where I come out saying, "that was the best movie I've ever seen" (I think the last time I said that was American Beauty), this wasn't quite at that level.  Still, a very very good movie that should be seen.

I'm a huge run-o-the-mill, People mag level George Clooney fan.  I love the stubble, the big brown eyes, the full tilt of his head, the voice, the politics, everything.  I am one of those rank and file movie goers who is more likely to identify the movie by its stars than its director or writers.  This movie is no exception even though the main reason many people probably saw it was its director (Alexander Payne: Sideways, About Schmidt, King of California) and even though who the director is has much more effect on whether a movie is good than who it stars.  Although having said that there are actors who are choosy enough about their vehicles, George Clooney and Meryl Streep come to mind, that the fact of their starring in it almost means it's a good film.  Contrast that to someone like Michael Cain who clearly is just an absolute whore and wants to work no matter what--sometimes it's a great film, sometimes it's absolute shite.

Beyond Clooney, I really did like the direction here.  This story could have been told with a much heavier hand--what a nightmare really.  A man's wife is in a coma only to find out that she __________ and with ___________ who is involved in _________________ (don't want to spoil the plot like so many other critics).  The Hawaii-ness is wonderful (and as a mainlander, I can say that it feels like they got that right, but whadoIno about that), the music, the beach, the sense of all these beach bums being greedy pigs and this one Honolulu out of touch lawyer in a suit being ultimately so loving and giving.

The movie is by turns funny, tragic, funny, funny, sad, sad.  They got the kids right too.  Shailene Woodley as Clooney's older daughter is a revelation--gorgeous, sassy--great writing which she lives up too--love to see more of her.

To get that 5th snout, I really would have to have wanted to own it and see it again and I don't.  Once was enough.  It's a small story that may or may not endure.

(:)(:)(:) for the Adventures of Tintin in 3D

3 snouts up out of a possible 5 snouts for Tintin in 3D.

At 9:50pm Christmas night, after a rich meal and a rousing Oh Hell card game speed race, my children and niece and nephew prevailed upon me and my brother to take them to the 10:10 showing of the Adventures of Tintin.  At my age, and with my early to bed early to rise routine, this decision itself was an adventure, an impulsive act hearkening back to holidays of our youth.

So we figured out some logistics, hopped in very cold cars and raced to the theaters in downtown (nearly deserted) Davis.  It was fun to tell the ticket clerks we wanted to see "Tin Tin at ten ten."  Unlike probably most viewers, my brother and I and our four teenagers (15-19) were raised on Tin Tin (our other brother is also raising his kids on Tintin, it's a must in the Nichols family).  We have every single one of the Tintin books (written by Belgian cartoonist Herge in the early 1930s).  So it was a no brainer to see this movie and to see it together.

I think it's fair to say we were all enchanted by it.  I know I was.  Yet I give it only 3 snouts--how can this be?  Well, as my son put it, it's a 4 snouter if you love and know Tintin.  It's a 3 if you're just going to a movie.   For me the movie was a technological marvel as well.  I have never seen an animated film that was made to look so much like a photo-realistic live action film.  In it, Steven Spielberg really seems to bring the art of Herge to life.  It is as if someone waved a magic wand and now the characters are all real and somehow able to have their crazy adventures in 3D.

I take it down a snout or too because in preserving the authentic Tintin feel, Spielberg and company chose to keep the thin plot, hokey dialogue and ludicrous assumptions intact.  The movie ends up feeling a little like a hybrid of 1930s sensibilities with 2011 technology--a disconcerting combination that doesn't quite work.  In other words, absent a fascination with a sexually ambiguous boy adventurer, his drunken sea captain sidekick and the 2 infinite silly Thom(p)son Twins trailing them, you might just say "yeah right!"

Come to think of it, Tintin's dog Snowy deserves honorable mention here.  Snowy has always been a talented and key part of any Tintin adventure, but Spielberg pays special attention to him here.  He ducks under cars, jumps out of windows and onto trucks and zeroes in on pick pockets like nobody's business.  Snowy is, in fact, often several steps ahead of Tintin, the captain and everyone in the film.  The chase between Snowy, a falcon, a car and a boat in a north african town might be the single best 3-D adventure scene I've every experienced--it was a ride at Disneyland all in itself.

In the end, I hope this film will introduce millions more to the amazing original cartoon books, available in print everywhere.

(:)(:)(:)(:) for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Four out of a possible five snouts up for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in theaters everywhere now.  I have to confess that I am one of the millions of people who obsessively consumed the 3 books that make up this bestselling series.  I read the first two in paperback, third on Kindle (my first ebook).  And I am not generally a consumer of such genres.  I like mysteries, but avoid gratuitous violence and get a little too wound up by thrillers, so this was a departure for me.  However, once in, I was so fascinated I couldn't get out.

It was with trepidation then, that I set forth on foot for a 7 o'clock showing at the downtown plaza.  It is one thing to read about rape and torture in print (or digital representations of print) and another to see it depicted in full color on the silver screen.  To top it off, we went with our (tiny sweet baby 6'4" almost 17 year old) son.  I have a bad track record at watching violent films with my children (see my review of of the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes).  I tend to see it all from (what I imagine is) their perspective and I get rather freaked out when something intense happens (even if they're not).

As it happens, the film is marvelous and mostly just suspenseful..  Beautifully filmed, supreme acting.  I agree with my colleagues (by that I mean all the other film critics that are unaware of my existence) that Rooney Mara, who plays Lisbeth Salander, the girl with said tattoo, is a talent.  Though so much of her "appeal"--if you can call it that--comes from the way she dresses and what she's able to accomplish that it's possible that any other 95 lb. 5 foot actress could pull it off equally well.   Daniel Craig, whom I've actually never seen in a film before and was only dimly aware was a Bond, was awesome--sexy, charming, totally fulfilled my fantasy of Mikael Blomkvist.

I was captivated by the credits alone (which, are, by the way, possibly the creepiest part of the picture).  Afterwards in family review, my son raised the question of whether I had violated my own guideline by not walking out during the second anal rape (he called it "A.R." for delicacy sake).  I say no and here's why:  knowing it was coming, I took a bathroom break during the first one.  Then sat gleefully during the second one, noticing how little it bothered me since it was a revenge on the first and being a little bothered by how little I was bothered.

One final note:  the first book is like 800 pages long and complex.  This movie seems to assume that everyone watching it has read the book.  If I hadn't, I would have been completely lost for the first 20 minutes just as I was bewildered by the 100 page set up in the book.  Don't worry, it's worth it either way.  Both Bill and Nick had not read the book and understood and enjoyed the film.

Sacramento's best toy stores may be in Old Sacramento

This was prematurely published the first time:
Every year I have the joy of remembering how fun it is to do Christmas shopping in Old Sacramento.  It's definitely not just for t-shirts and toffee and hasn't been for years.  In particular, I think the best toy stores in the city are there.  Every year I vow to blog about them in November so that people remember to shop there and instead I find myself telling you with only 7 shopping days left.

Every toy store in Old Sac is going to beat the heck out of Toys R Us or KB Toys which only carry the mainest of mainstream corporate choices.

There are 3 main toy stores in Old Sac: 

Old City Kites

Fun and Games in Old Sacramento 

&

G. Willikers! Toy Emporium

I find jewels in all three.  In addition to kites and puzzles, Old City Kites has awesome games and stocking stuffers--really fun jokes and pranks (although Evangeline's in Old Sac has those too) and just stuff you would never find elsewhere.  Fun and Games is better for older kids and adults--the games are incredibly wonderful though.  Definitely cutting edge.  Excellent craft packages if you're into that.  Also very good stocking stuffers--hardware puzzles of screws and bolts to untangle--great!

But the one I most consistently find stuff for my elementary age nieces and nephews (and when they were younger) is G. Willikers!  which is a larger, beautiful store--special emphasis on trains and Thomas, a great place to bring kids because it's so fascinating and they carry a lot of great games, toys, dolls, stocking stuffers.  Love that place!

Meditation Lesson 1: No one can do it right.

I have been meditating for many years.  I love it.  I depend upon it.  I would be more likely to leave the house without brushing my teeth than I would without meditating.

Countless books and classes and CDs exist to teach people to meditate.  Yet, people ask me all the time about it.  So I decided to share what I know about meditating, a little a day for a while.

Lesson 1:  No one can do it right.

The biggest thing that gets in the way of beginning meditators is the fear or knowledge that they are not "doing it right."  If they were, their mind would be peaceful and tranquil and still not bouncing all over the  place thinking of 5 million things.

Wrong.  Pema Chodron, the great north American buddhist nun (who talks and writes just like a regular person--her books are short and sweet--so cool) has "sat on a cushion" for over 30 years.  Sometimes she maintains silence for as long as a year.  She says her mind still is not peaceful.  It still bounces all over the place.

The difference between meditators and non-meditators is not the peacefulness or tranquilness of their mind, it is that meditators (experienced ones anyway) sometimes notice what their mind is doing and catch it.  They can witness the business, and they don't always have to be caught up by it.

More later.

It always comes down to people

More and more it seems to me that it always comes down to people.  At least it certainly does in my small world of lobbying in the state capitol and being a spiritual practitioner.  You can talk about institutions, and government and companies, but at the end of the day, what gets me to call someone, go somewhere or get anything done is the individual people.  There will be some particular person who I know, or who has a reputation for getting things done or being loving, kind, cutting to the chase, whatever it is.  I generally don't just want that office, I want that person

In a way, it's not supposed to be this way.  "Principles before personalities" is said to win the day.  Process, mission statements, values, planning all command an immense amount of focus.  And certain organizations--in my world, Southwest Airlines and Sacramento Country Day School come to mind--are able to use those tools to create an impressive consistency in the service and face they provide to the public. 

Yet, it seems to me that even there it's as if the consistency of the mission attracts and retains great people.  I'd like to hear whether you agree.

Safety on the Sacramento River paths?

Well, I got a lot of feedback on that post.  Ideally, those people (and you know who you are) would take the time to officially comment (which is the kind of thing that drives traffic to a site).  But you didn't, so I'll give you the highlights:

A woman who calls herself "Pev" said this:  One word:  pockettazer...I don't walk without it and I'm in the "safe" burbs.

To "Pev":  one word, "don't taze me, bro"  Seriously, I remember when I was dating a man who ran security systems in the desert.  He was so romantic.  He gave me my first tazer.  Back when NO ONE had one.  Hot!  Below see a photo of a "pocket lazer" which is as close as google images could get:

Donalee says:  Hear! Hear!  I remember hearing about attacks happening on the American River bike trail.  However, I work downtown and a few years ago a woman was murdered right in our building's quad area; people are mugged frequently. I saw my (only) dead body in a downtown alley.  I haven't heard about rapes happening in the downtown area, but I wouldn't be surprised.  I'm a chicken about being almost anywhere alone - and some times even with other people.  Sad.

Donnalee, take 2 tablespoons of raisins and call me in the morning!

Bill A says this:  I strongly urge, nay forbid, my wife to walk along the river alone. There is a history of attacks, esp along the American River, going back to my first days in Sacramento (1985).  I would not call them victims of the economy.  I call them rapists.

Hmmm, Bill A., where is your compassion, man?  Rapists are people too.

I also found out at the dinner table that my husband, whom I'll call Bill M., also would strongly rather (the thinking man's "forbids") that I not walk alone along the river.

I said it before and I'll say it again (hopefully not to my eternal regret), I've always felt very safe there.

Safe walking on the Sacramento rivers?

I live 5 blocks and work 7 blocks from the Sacramento River and a few blocks more from the American (pictured above).  Like many Sacramentans, I like to bike and walk along them.  Unlike many Sacramentan women, I tend to do it alone.  The question I want to pose here is: is it?

The reason people think it might not be safe is the preponderance of down and out people who camp near the river and hang out there during the days.  The thought is that it isn't safe to be near people at that level of society, they are desperate and they may attack.  I tend to think (based on intuition and observation, but no actual information) that people who are down and out are kind of just scrambling to survive.   Their main needs are food, shelter, water and medication.  They certainly don't have the energy to rape anyone and they're unlikely to want to mug anyone because it would bring police investigation.  One thing they know they don't want is increased scrutiny by the police.

Yet, I have to admit that yesterday, when walking near Discovery Park just north of Old Sac on a gorgeous cold clear day I felt nervous to find myself alone and face to face with a man clearly in need of psychiatric medication, shelter and love.  I was not in position to provide either of the first and sometimes gazing lovingly at people who are not seeing clearly can have its drawbacks so I went for head down quick passing by as the best strategy and kept my cell phone handy.  He shouted obscenities at me but failed to rise from his cozy position next to the fancy water reclamation center.

A quick search reveals that in September a man was shot in the early morning near the American River Bike Trail--he was homeless.  As this Sacramento Bee photo documents above, the river has not always been a friendly place for this population to camp.  All of this leads me to wonder who it is that really should be nervous along the Sacramento rivers--perhaps its not a middle aged middle class woman trying to walk off her middle. 

Once you go Mac, you never go back

Of course I'm far from the first person to say that. As I've just learned by exercising my human right to google, there's a facebook page, there's multiple t-shirts. So let me just echo. My first personal computer was the first mass-produced Apple Macintosh. My father bought it for me in 1982 through a program at Reed College. At the time he purchased it, my father (a literature professor and radical left activist) was composing all his copious writings (plays, books, stories, letters) on a manual typewriter he had been carrying around with him for 30 years. He hated the electrics and wouldn't have anything to do with them. I can well remember falling asleep to the sounds of Judy Collins' "no more genocide in my name" layered over the clang of the return arm on the typewriter in my father's office located directly below my bedroom.

But I digress...my father fell in love with my first Mac and stole it from me.  Just like that.  He bought it.  He tried it and then he couldn't, wouldn't go back to the clackety clack.  Course, my father was an honorable man and so he immediately bought me another one.   I loved it.  It was so convenient.  You could even store up to 365k of memory on one of those little disks and you could spend hours swapping disks back and forth in order to have them hold your entire 20 page paper.

Then I got a job working as a secretary on a Wang wordprocessor.  Don't get me started on Yang.  I was the freakin' queen of Wang.  Sometime let me tell you the story about how I inadvertently lost 3 people their jobs by being a temp that was too good at Wang.   After that I worked only for places with IBM machines.  Not because I liked them, but because that's what my employers had.  I wanted desperately to work on an Apple computer.  My brothers never ever left the Apple family.  I dreamed of it.  I yearned for it.  I got very good at PCs (but at night I would dream of the Mac...).

It never seemed to me to make sense to invest in an Apple product because they were so expensive and they did not  interface well with PCs.  For the past several years, people whispered to me, there's Mac Word--you can open microsoft products.  All those glitches are gone.  Still, I would go into the Mac store and I would look at the prices on those laptops and I would think, no can do.  I bought a little netbook PC thing hoping it would slake my thirst.  So affordable.  So tiny.  A soon-to-be anachronism replaced by the tablets.  It has been horrible.  It is impossible to type on.  It takes years to boot up.  It crashes frequently.

Finally, last year, the main desk top at home acted up once too often.  I convinced myself it was on its last legs and I went to the Apple store and bought an iMac desktop.  Man oh man.  I love(d) everything about it.  About a week after I bought it, I got a challenging day job.  That job has me on a PC.  I'm on that PC all day long.  It crashes.  It takes forever to boot up.  It's not beautiful and it's hard to get around.

Week before last one of my brothers let me use his Mac Airbook for a second.  OMG.  I could hardly stand how beautiful that thing is.  I kid you not I seriously considered stealing it from him and telling him there was a break-in.

I cannot and will not live without that device.  I will have one.

Yet, it occurs to me that the title of my post is a lie.  I went Mac and then for decades (literally, almost 3) I did not go back.  Maybe what I should say is, "once you leave Mac, it's a long road back..."

Four Snouts Up for Hugo

(:)(:)(:)(:) for Hugo, a family friendly film directed by Martin Scorsese. I struggle as to whether to give this 4 snouts over 3 (and it's certainly not the coveted 5 snouts). It's an absolutely gorgeous picture--amazing set, amazing cinematography, lovely acting, engaging sweet story. However, I guess in the end, I found it a bit thin. It's really just not enough story for a full movie, as if someone took a short story (rather than a thick graphic novel, which is essentially what it was based upon) and stretched it into a feature film. Without giving anything away, I also didn't completely buy the basic premise of why the character played by Ben Kingsley is so sad and what he fears so much about the past. When that was revealed, my reaction was kind of, "huh?" We also chose to see the film in 3-D which may not have been the best decision. I went with my husband and two teenagers. The 4 of us have kind of decided that there's too much 3-D out there and that we'd just as soon see things in two dimensions. But this film has lots of long shots of the amazing clock works and racing around the station and in retrospect, I can see where that would be more exciting in 3-D. The rest of my family absolutely loved it with no reservations and it is notable that two teenagers opted for and really dug this PG film over some of the more violent and salacious fare in the market. My recommendation: See Hugo, bring the kids and grandma, and see it in 3-D.