1. I had a superb day with friends today. I'll begin with the end of the day. Christy, Debbie, and I piled in the Sube and blasted over to the condos at the Morning Star Lodge to have dinner and drinks with Renae and Dick Costa. To our delight, Mike Pierce was also in the house. Upon entering, we were not only greeted with fun and lively company, but Dick and Renae made beer, gin and tonic, bourbon, and (I think) wine available for us and in the living room they had put out a generous spread of salami, cheese, apple slices, crackers, cheese spreads, and other delicious items to snack on.
Debbie, Christy, and I dove into the gin and tonic. We all got comfortable around the snack table. Before long Dick and Renae heated up boneless chicken wings and Renae set out a very tasty salad.
And immediately, the yakkin' began. It was a fun night for origin stories. How in the world did Renae happen to come to Kellogg from North Dakota? How in the world did Debbie and I meet in Eugene and start messing around with each other? How did Glenn Exum play a part in Debbie's life when she was living in Glen Ellyn, far, far away from Mr. Exum's teacher life in Kellogg and his mountaineering life in Wyoming? We talked about accidents and surgeries and Kellogg history. We laughed. Our jaws dropped at hearing about stuff that happened in our lives.
We had a grand time and, I'm sure, had we all been in our twenties again, we wouldn't have broken this party up until the wee hours of the morning.
But, we are in our sixties and seventies now and the party broke up some time between eleven and midnight (I think) and we made the very most of our hours of merriment together.
2. My other superb social time happened this afternoon on ZOOM. Bill, Diane, and I had a great time yakkin' about a wide variety of things. Bill is in the process of resurrecting and re-mixing Lunatic Cafe, the first album he self-recorded nearly forty years ago on a four track recording machine he had at home. Back in late 1983 through the spring of 1984, I lived in my favorite of all apartments on Stevens Street, in Spokane, just below the Sacred Heart Medical Center. Bill also lived on the lower South Hill of Spokane and our conversation today about those Lunatic Cafe songs and the scene at Phil Eaton's restaurant, Henny's brought back some really fun memories of visiting Bill's apartment, hearing him perform at Henny's, remembering hearing Redeker play there, too, and how much the goodness of students, professors, and friends associated with Whitworth College at that time helped me enjoy much of my life while, at the same time, I was confused, confusing, overwhelmed, and haunted by difficulties unlike any I had ever experienced before.
We also talked about movies and what I'm experiencing and trying to teach myself through my efforts at Vizio University. Vizio University stimulates me, is expanding my movie viewing experience immeasurably, and has been one of my favorite undertakings in my retirement. I admit, though, I sometimes wish it wasn't such a solo effort. But, there's good news regarding enjoying movies with others. I think at some point, Bill, Diane, possibly other Basementeers, and I will all watch The Last Picture Show and jump on ZOOM to talk about how it's made, what it explores, what we think of the acting in it, and any number of other things.
3. Late this morning, I decided I wanted to watch another courtroom drama and, for the first time in a few weeks, I watched a movie made more recently than the 1940s and 1950s!
Because Debbie and I repeatedly watch All the President's Men, my high regard for Jack Warden increases all the time. A few weeks ago, I was rummaging around on the World Wide Web, reminding myself of other work Jack Warden had done, and I remembered his role as Mickey Morrissey, mentor of and fellow attorney with an alcoholic lawyer named Frank Galvin, played by Paul Newman in the movie, The Verdict (1982).
So, today, I watched The Verdict. I enjoyed watching Paul Newman at work. He brilliantly embodied the ways in which Frank Galvin is, at once, a self-destructive wreck of an attorney and also in possession of a deep sense of honor, justice, and rectitude. What's immature and self-defeating in his character often undermines his idealism and this movie became as much a trial of Frank Galvin's inward life as it was a courtroom drama. Jack Warden was superb as Mickey, the gruff, profane, world weary, and loyal friend and colleague of Frank Galvin.
I'm leaving things out that I'm thinking about, but I'll add one more thing. I enjoyed observing what I thought was the influence of earlier film noir movies on the way certain moments in this movie were photographed. As we come to learn more about Laura Fischer, played exquisitely by Charlotte Rampling, a climactic moment unfolds and her face, at that moment, is half in shadow, half in light and this visual effect perfectly captures how she has appeared to be a light in Frank Galvin's life while at the same time she has kept a dark secret hidden from him in the shadowy regions of her soul.
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