Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Three Beautiful Things 10/24/16: Mom Update, Back in the Pool, *Goliath* vs Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese

1.  Christy called me today with an update on Mom. Mom's got a ways to go before the infection in her leg heals. She'll be in the hospital for a while longer because the wound needs continual attention. Mom's spirits seem pretty good, according to Christy. With help, she can be out of bed and walk a bit. She's getting a little feisty about this and that, always a sign that she's feeling better.  She, and we, her kids, sure appreciate all the support from friends and family near and far.  People are good.

2. It felt really good to be back in the swimming pool today, jogging in place, doing jumping jacks, stretching, getting in a lot of movement. I tingled and felt refreshed for the rest of the day after today's class ended.

3.  This evening I descended deeper into the darkness of Goliath as more and more layers of corruption in the law firm Billy McBride (Billy Bob Thornton) is up against were peeled away and the rot at the heart of the munitions manufacturer the law firm represents was exposed.  The series is a melodramatic portrayal of ruthlessness. This kind of melodrama is both unnerving and fun at the same time: for me, it's unnerving to enter into a world rife with so much lust, greed, vengefulness, deception, perversion, and cruelty, but, it's fun to watch actors like Billy Bob Thornton, Maria Bello, William Hurt, Molly Parker, and the other cast members tear gleefully into their roles, making the David/Goliath conflict bigger and bigger as Goliath grows and the odds stack more heavily against David.

Before I called it a night, I took a break from the illicit world of Goliath and watched the first episode of Chef's Table.  Ahhhh.  The world of chef Massimo Bottura, in his restaurant, Osteria Francescana, located in Modena, is one of light, laughter, artistry, and love. By diving into the world of Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore, his wife and business partner, I went to sleep with images of corruption replaced by images of joy and vitality and intriguing food far beyond the reach of any dimension of my culinary experience, either in the kitchen or at the dinner table.

By the way, David Gelb directs Chef's Table and he regards the series as a follow up to his splendid documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a movie I thoroughly loved.

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