Jean-Marc Vallée: Dallas Buyers Club

Jean-Marc Vallée's Dallas Buyers Club (2013) feels like a certain type of late 1960s or 1970s film, anywhere between Midnight Cowboy (1969), Mean Streets (1973) and Wise Blood (1979). It's compelling, with a mix of seedy backdrops and driven characters trying to find a cure, or at least ways to contain, AIDS and its deadly effects. This would make a good second film in a double feature with David France's 2012 documentary How to Survive a Plague. Starts in and around Dallas, Texas, in 1985. Excellent period details -- including a key library scene featuring a microfiche reader. R-rated due, no doubt, to glimpses of drug use, raw sex and colorful Texas-style language, with some violence. The actors: all in high form. 

Today's Rune: Defense.   

Elmore Leonard, RIP

A fond farewell to Elmore Leonard (1925-2013), the writer and the person. It hasn't been but a few days since I unpacked his Cuba Libre (1998) from a box shipped from North Carolina. Oh, yeah. 

And how could I ever forget The Moonshine War (1969)? My sister Vickie took me to see a matinee showing of the 1970 movie version when we were but kids -- Richard Widmark, Alan Alda (yes) and Patrick ("Secret Agent Man" / The Prisoner) McGoohan as the major players -- a sort of foreshadowing of The Omega Man (1971) and Deliverance (1972), which we also saw when they came out. The joys of babysitting. I paid it all forward by taking our younger brother Jamie to see Wise Blood (1979), Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Kids Are Alright (1979). Haha. And the beat goes on. 

Elmore Leonard, RIP.

Today's Rune: Flow.       

The Great Blackout of 2003 in the US and Canada

For those who found themselves on this date ten years ago located within any swath of North America ranging from Detroit to Toronto to Manhattan, here's an oft-evocative writing prompt: "How did you respond to the Great Blackout of 2003?"

I've already gotten more than 100 responses so far, forming a mosaic of tales tall and short, muted and loud. The folks trapped in an elevator when the power failed. The heat. The food sizzling on grills in backyards and alleyways. The mad dashes from place to place grand and small. Generators. Boozing. Car radios. Dancing in the streets. Bartering by flashlight. All of it and more! How about you? 

Of course, some folks ain't never even done heard of nothing like such a thing. But there ya go, that's the way of the world and all the people in it. Go ask them that's stuck in Cairo or Aleppo on this date today, in the year 2013. Or in the parlance of our day:

***What?***

Today's Rune: Journey.   

Jean-Pierre Melville: Les enfants terribles (Take II)

Again while trying to absorb Jean-Pierre Melville (and Jean Cocteau's) Les enfants terribles (1950), live events keep rolling in. Today's big Supreme Court rulings in the USA were victories for the legitmacy of gay marriages, including recognition of federal benefits. This is a touchstone issue around the world and will certainly circulate in due time around the other states here. Overall, these rulings and similar developments represent a big shift since a time-marking event as recent as the 2004 presidential election, when so-and-so's pastor told people not to vote for John Kerry because he wouldn't stifle gay rights. A Pyrrhic victory for social conservatives, it turns out. One of many such in hindsight, I suspect.  

Michigan Daily, October 15, 1975

In any case, Les enfants terribles is a peculiar movie (based on the equally peculiar Cocteau novel), definitely memorable in part because it's so weird and different from more "typical" fare. It does remind me of a few other works, but of each in a different way. It utilizes classical music akin to how Stanley Kubrick later did in completing A Clockwork Orange (1971), for instance. It has social relationships in the same emotional realm as found in Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood (1952) -- which is cool, because she may have seen the film at the time; certainly, given her interest in French literature, she would have been aware of the 1929 Cocteau novel. And there's a thematic connection taken up by Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris, Little Buddha) in The Dreamers (2003), a film also set in Paris, only updated to revolutionary year 1968. All in all for these comparisons and on its own merits, it's worth an extended look.

   
The image here reminds me off the top of my head of Ingmar Bergman's Det sjunde inseglet / The Seventh Seal (1957), Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997). What do you think?

Today's Rune: The Mystery Rune.

   

The Cachet of the Geocache

If you're looking for adventure, have you heard of geocaching?  It's almost mind-boggling, but there are tens of thousands of hidden "caches" to be found all over the world. To begin finding some of them and leaving your mark, one needs a certain amount of mobility and some sort of GPS device (including smartphones). Access to the internet helps. Check out a website for your area, see where the treasures are located, and -- depending on your starting point -- either "get out of Dodge" or "go to town." Specific examples can be found via this link: http://www.geocaching.com/

 

Today's Rune: Warrior. 

Robert Bresson: Diary of a Country Priest

In Robert Bresson's adaptation of Georges Bernanos' 1936 novel, Journal d'un curé de campagne / Diary of a Country Priest (1951), we are dealt a deep, heavy and slow-paced tale suffused with Catholic faith. That is, it's not for everyone, but I usually enjoy stories about the complexities of being a priest or nun or ordinary Catholic, and Diary of a Country Priest is no exception.

This is a beautifully shot film, with a lead (Claude Laydu) who looks and seems right out of the Silent Era, or from an early sound epic like Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front. Thematically, Diary of a Country Priest reminds me of a Flannery O'Connor work, so it's no surprise to remember that her novel Wise Blood came out in 1952.

My heart goes out to all those people whose lives have been shattered by today's horrible massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

Today's Rune: Signals.

Orpheus and Saint Francis of Assisi

Charming, to be sure. Orpheus and various animals depicted in a Roman mosaic dating to 194 A.D. (Dallas Museum of Art).

 

Saint Francis of Assisi (ca. 1181-1226 A.D.) and the Eugubini Wolf (Die Blümlein des Heiligen Franziskus von Assisi, 1911).

Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Emilio Fernández: Los Islas Marías, Take One

'Outsanding melodrama' is my initial response to Emilio Fernández' Los Islas Marías (1951). The over-the-top soundtrack befits it as with other early 1950s movies, especially film noir or science fiction types, but it is also akin to something equally melodramatic such as The Lost Weekend (1945). We are treated to sultry women. Honor. Family. An eclectic mix of labor, celebration and crime. A federal penal colony. Redemption.

Emilio "El Indio"/"The Indian" Fernández fashions a story that revolves around a dysfunctional family in a manner resembling a tale by Fyodor Dostoyevsky seasoned by Flannery O'Connor and filtered through Mexican culture. Fantastic! 

I'll just give the basic set up. First, we follow Doña Rosa Suárez (Rosaura Revueltas) as she proudly, joyously goes around town making arrangements for the celebration of her youngest son's graduation from the Military Academy. She invites all sorts of people to the event, which will be held at the family villa. It's only a little later that we see things are not at all ideal under the surface, however. Her husband, an officer in the Mexican Army, is dead, pehaps killed during the Mexican Revolution or in more recent disturbances. She can't really afford to maintain the family household, even though she retains servants. Her beautiful daughter Alejandra (Esther Luquín) is either a courtesan or otherwise involved in some shady business, with shady men. Her oldest son Felipe (Pedro Infante) hangs out at nightclubs, sings love songs, drinks heavily, has several women admirers, yet acts (and feels inside) like an abject failure. This is why all of Doña Rosa's hopes are now pinned on Felipe's younger brother Ricardo (Jaime Fernández), set to enter the Army as a second lieutenant, in the footsteps of their father. He is her pride and joy. But things will not go as planned -- that's the set up.

Today's Rune: Defense.      

Carrie Fisher: Shockaholic

Thoroughly enjoyed Shockaholic (2011), Carrie Fisher's newest memoir. There's a little something in it for just about anybody. There's the pop culture stuff: musings about celebrity and wreckage, "the shine" and the pit. Senators are in there, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Fisher's parents Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. This is all intertwined with Carrie Fisher's personal complications, and depression, and her turning to Electroconvulsive (aka electroshock) therapy (ECT) for survival: "I wish I could explain . . . the seemingly unending, ongoing, relentless, inordinately intense, pathetic fixation I have with my feelings . . . demanding my attention and externally taking my emotional temperature." (Shockaholic, pages 16-17).

ECT probably saves her life, but at the expense of memory gaps: a lot is forgotten of the weeks or months before and after each treatment. I had a college student like this years ago who needed a map and detailed notes to find the way to class. Luckily it was a writing class, so subject matter could come from anywhere, and said student was a good writer. With Carrie Fisher, depression is kept at bay, and she can still write, too -- in a pithy, self-deprecating and effective manner. If you're looking for something a little different, Shockaholic is a quick, interesting read. 

Today's Rune: Harvest.  

Smoke Signals

Above shot: poster for a 2007 screening of Chris Eyre's Smoke Signals (1998), based on parts of Sherman Alexie's interconnected short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993).  My sister Linda was among the panelists discussing it. Seeing this on a tour of her office at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro recently thrilled me, not only because I like the movie and the book, but also because I've included both in Macomb College English classes -- yeah, synchronicity! Ideal for class discussions and response essays. Highly recommended.

Another good indie film with overlapping themes is Jonathan Wacks' Powwow Highway (1989), based on David Seals' novel The Powwow Highway (1979). Seals also wrote a sequel to the novel and movie, Sweet Medicine (1992).

Today's Rune: Wholeness.     

Liquid Sky

My friend Evan noted in a comment regarding yesterday's Bowie post how he was surprised by running into his father at a Liquid Sky (1983) showing. If you've seen the controversial film with cult following, the surprise makes sense. This incident reminds me of the buzz around other films over the years. In my family, we kids could feel the electricity in the air when my parents were going to see Last Tango in Paris (1972), though they never discussed it afterwards. Having since seen it more than once as an adult myself, I can understand their silence on the matter.

When I was a really little kid, I took the soundtrack to Goldfinger to school for show and tell. My then teacher was not amused, and raised a stink about it (too controversial at the time and for that age group, apparently). I still have the record, featuring Shirley Bassey (another January 8th birthday!) and the Bond theme -- and I still love it.

When I was a bit older, one of my sisters took me to see several "controversial" films, ranging from The Moonshine War (1970) to The Omega Man (1971) to Deliverance (1972). In turn, babysitting my younger brother years later, I took him to see wildish movies like Wise Blood (1979), Apocalypse Now (1979), Quadrophenia (1979) and The Kids Are Alright (1979). If memory serves, Wise Blood freaked him out a little (he was nine at the time, the same age I was when Vickie collared me for The Moonshine War). No worries: we're both productive tax-paying adults now, so all is well. Ha!

How about you?  Did you have a sibling or friend who sneaked you into controversial films?  I just remembered another one: by the time The Exorcist (1973) came out, I went with school friends. Lots of people were freaking out about it at the time. We thought it was cool, but joked our way through.   

 

Today's Rune: Defense.

Werner Herzog: My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done

Luckily, while performing jury duty I didn't have to deal with anything quite so bizarre as the events that "transgress" in Herzog's My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done. This film is offbeat enough to wander if a question mark should be included in the title. It appears that sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't, depending on where and how you look.

The director, producer and primary actors were enough to get me to watch it asap, if not stat. However, it is a pretty low-key film when all is said and done. I enjoyed it -- of course -- particularly its meandering imagery and special Herzog touches (such as a little person standing on the stump of a gargantuan Redwood tree, a basketball set in the branches of a small tree with San Diego's skyline across a highway in the backdrop, and an unruly ostrich farm. Plus the music: weird.)

The film works in such a way that several scenes stick in memory far more sneakily than a first watch might suggest. Then again, this is often true of Herzog's work.

Besides Werner Herzog as director and co-writer (with Herbert Golder), My Son was produced by David Lynch; actors include a Grade A list fresh from the darkness on the edge of town: Michael Shannon (pictured above), Grace Zabriskie (pictured above), Chloë Sevigny (pictured above), Willem Dafoe, Michael Peña, Brad Dourif, Irma P. Hall and Udo Kier.

Today's Rune: Movement.

Sesame Street at Forty

Sesame Street turned forty today, and my younger brother Jamie will turn the same age at the end of this year. These two things are connected in memory because anytime I watched Sesame Street, it was usually while babysitting Jamie, or watching him briefly while the adults did other things. I approved of Sesame Street, and The Electric Company, though I (at the time) mocked poor harmless Fred Rogers and Mister Rodgers' Neighborhood, which seemed infantile by comparison. (When I'd been Jamie's age, I sometimes watched Batman, The Twilight Zone, Captain Kangaroo, Dark Shadows, Milton Berle, Star Trek -- a real eclectic grab bag).

Anyway, Big Bird always freaked me out, his gangly size and weird voice. The Count, Cookie Monster and Oscar were the ones I liked best. The people seemed cool, the great urban mix that even now seems ahead of its time. A big hit for PBS and a legacy of good things put in motion by The Great Society, even during the Vietnam War.

The Electric Company (1971+) was stranger than Sesame Street, a little more on the surreal side; among its early regulars were Bill Cosby (who earlier had done I Spy; afterwards, Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids) and Morgan Freeman.

In the tradition of older sibling taking younger to see scary movies, where Vickie, my oldest sister, took me to see The Omega Man and Deliverance, I later took Jamie to see Apocalypse Now! and Wise Blood. By that time, we'd run far far away from Big Bird.

Today's Rune: Defense.

Four Years Later: 1980

1980 -- hard to separate what I remember directly from what I know now. Some of of the movies: Caligula (1979) released in the USA, I saw with pals in Chapel Hill. Coal Miner's Daughter, the Loretta Lynn story, with Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, etc. The original Friday the 13th, out as a remake now in 2009 (Nein, Danke). Breaker Morant, great film set in the Boer War, a sequel to which is being fought in Afghanistan today. How about Stanley Kubrick's version of The Shining? And on to Urban Cowboy, Mad Max, The Blues Brothers, class conscious Caddyshack, 9 to 5, Any Whch Way You Can, Altered States (a great writing prompt, still), City of Women / La città delle donne, Ordinary People, Somewhere in Time, Stardust Memories, Raging Bull, Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, The Lathe of Heaven (1979), Tess [of the d'Urbervilles], Brave New World?

1980 was an excellent year for culture. Not so much for economics and politics. Just like today, I suppose.















Here, Jimmy Carter helps Lee Iacocca save Chrysler, at least for another generation, with a massive public loan. Sound familiar?

How about that Iranian Revolution, thirty years later?

How about that Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988?

How about them Russians (aka Soviets) trying to hold and pacify Afghanistan? Hmm.

What else you got? I was living in a dorm in Chapel Hill on election night, how about some of you others who were also alive and kicking then?

Today's Rune: Fertility.

p.s. If you want to feel strange, consider a few 1980 birthdays: Zooey Deschanel, Christina Ricci and Jake Gyllenhaal. Haha.

God Hates Fangs!

Saw episode one of Alan Ball's new HBO series True Blood. Season One is based on Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Series, specifically (I'm pretty sure) the first novel in the series, Dead Until Dark (2001).

It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but I liked it.

The whole thing, as befits anything to do with vampires, is creepy and edgy. The main characters/actors, telepathic Louisiana waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) are sympathetic, which is key to maintaining the viewer's (i.e. my) interest. Plus the story line is compelling, which also helps.

If you liked Ball's Six Feet Under (2001-2005) sensibilities, you'll probably like this, too. It would be nice if you also liked David Lynch efforts like Blue Velvet (1986) and Twin Peaks (1990-1991). Throw in the Coen brothers' Blood Simple (1984/1985) and perhaps Pulp Fiction (1994) and I think you'll be all set for what's coming.

Today's Rune: Protection.

Wise Blood

First, a big thank you to Ms. Robin for pointing out Thomas Video, which has a heap of in stock VHS versions of movies not yet available in digital format. I haven’t even gotten to their DVDs yet. For the first round, I picked up four videos, including a copy of Wise Blood (1979/1980), which I hadn’t seen in more than twenty years.

Wise Blood is a comic-spiritual adventure, The Dukes of Hazzard meets The New Testament. The soundtrack is terrible, worthy of 70s TV fair, something out of Little House on the Prairie. But the characters are riveting – in fact, this could easily be set in Metro Detroit today, given the people I’ve met along the way here -- probably best set above Eight Mile, though, given the callous use of the hateful “N” word.

Wise Blood was made in and around Macon, Georgia, and has a weird feel, like mixed eras (1970s and 1930s) jumbled together; the viewer is not sure if this is dark comedy or just plain mockery of eccentrics a la the equally brilliant and equally unsettling Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell (1932). This latter uncertainty is exactly as Flannery O’Connor intended in her short novel Wise Blood (1952), and director John Huston is faithful to the spirit and general details of the Flannery text in his film adaptation.

The cast includes Brad Dourif (Hazel Motes), Amy Wright (Sabbath Lily), Harry Dean Stanton (Asa Hawks), Dan Schor (Enoch Emory), Ned Beatty (Hoover Shoates), and John Huston in flashback as Hazel’s fire-and-brimstone preacher grandfather.

Harry Dean Stanton is true to form, and can now be seen on HBO’s Big Love playing another religious character. Ned Beatty plays a goofy two penny charlatan (while over on the set of The Guyana Tragedy, he was playing Congressman Leo Ryan). Dan Schor has the feckless Enoch down perfectly. But the standouts in Wise Blood are Brad Dourif – haunted eyes, driven ways – in the lead role, and Amy Wright as the blind preacher’s daughter. In The Guyana Tragedy, Dourif’s character (David Langtree) is personally saved by none other than Jim Jones himself (Powers Boothe in the role of a lifetime); he later helps dispense the poisoned Flavor Aid at Jonestown. More recently, Dourif has appeared with Powers Boothe again, as Doc in HBO’s Deadwood.

Amy Wright is elfin and a real treat as Sabbath Lily. “I have this personality that makes boys follow me. . .,” she says while trying to seduce Hazel. Wright also appears in Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories (1980), as a groupie. A wonderful actor, she’s married to another wonderful actor, Rip Torn.

From Flannery O'Connor's note to the second edition of Wise Blood (1962): . . . [A]ll comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death. . . free will does not mean one will, but many wills conflicting in one man [person]. Freedom cannot be conceived simply. It is a mystery and one which a novel, even a comic novel, can only be asked to deepen. In that sense, both the novel and the film succeed. Warning: the movie takes about ten minutes to kick into gear. Keep the faith.

Today’s Rune: Possessions.

Happy birthday, Betty Friedan.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I don’t really care who wins, but favor the Chicago Bears. I liked the Colts more as a kid – when they were in Baltimore. Johnny Unitas rocked! I got to meet him once in Philadelphia when he was an announcer. As for the Bears, I’ve always been a fan of the Black and Blue Division. Go Bears!

The Lathe of Heaven

There's a cluster of films that capture something about modern times -- maybe the "malaise" of the Jimmy Carter years, maybe also the spiritual yearning still in evidence today. Four of them are dreamy, quirky, low rent and thoughtful by Hollywood standards. They are also entertaining, interesting, memorable, and it's time to bring them forth again:

Wise Blood (1979, based on the 1952 Flannery O'Connor novel); Brave New World (1980, based on the 1932 Aldous Huxley novel); Guyana Tragedy (1980, based on the life of Jim Jones); and The Lathe of Heaven (1980, based on the 1971 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin).

The Lathe of Heaven revolves around George Orr, who seems to be crawling in ruins caused by an atomic war, slowly dying of radiation poisoning. He dreams his way back into life -- is he truly dreaming or is this really happening?

The plot thickens as he receives psychiatric treatment from Dr. William Haber for sleep disorders. Together they discover he can change reality through his dreams, and Haber tries to make "improvements" to the world, resulting in a series of unexpected twists.

If you could change three things in the world, what would they be? A Miss America contestant might say, "I want to bring peace to the world, end starvation and help old people."

Haber opts for trying to end racism, for one -- but when Orr dreams it away, he wakes up to find everyone has turned gray. And then there are the aliens, and the ice cream stands. And that stubborn apocalypse. What's going on?

Remember the Gypsy Curse: May you get exactly what you wish for.

Dr. Haber: You know what they say, neurotics build castles in the sky, psychotics live in them.

Heather: Psychiatrists collect the rent.

Besides death, bills, trouble and taxes, what is reality?

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Happy Halloween Dreaming!

Movies that Match Fiction

Here are nine movies that are about as good (or even slightly better) than the fiction they're based on -- a rare treat. This is by no means an exhaustive list, only a start.

I love every one of these films:

The Lost Weekend (1945). Director, Billy Wilder. Novel, Charles R. Jackson.

The Bad Seed (1956). Director, Mervyn LeRoy. Novel, William March. Play, Maxwell Anderson.

To Kill A Mockingbird (1962). Director, Robert Mulligan. Novel, Harper Lee.

The Last Picture Show (1971). Director, Peter Bogdanovich. Novel, Larry McMurtry.

Wise Blood (1979). Director, John Huston. Novel, Flannery O’Connor.

Affliction (1997). Director, Paul Schrader. Novel, Russell Banks.

Fight Club (1999). Director, David Fincher. Novel, Chuck Palhniuk.

Wonder Boys (2000). Director, Curtis Hanson. Novel, Michael Chabon.

My Life Without Me (2003). Director, Isabel Coixet. Story, Nanci Kincaid.


Today's Rune: Fertility.

Ciao! Manhattan!

HBO's Deadwood

The visceral nature of HBO's Deadwood (2004-2006), created by David Milch and crew, may shock at first, but its strong character development, story line, and inherently numerous conflicts make it the best Western I've ever seen. The series ends in August, 2006, but there will be at least two follow-up movies to tie up loose ends and follow the surviving characters into new realms (slated for 2007).

The strong language stands out -- in fact, I've never seen any series or movie with so much foul talk, made all the starker when intertwined with flowery nineteenth century phrasings. There's little doubt that it's a realistic mix. It was, after all, the Wild West.

The mix of primary and secondary characters is compelling, too. Because of the serial nature of Deadwood, we can enjoy a range of characters and plot developments.

Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) is the kingpin, the equivalent of Tony Soprano from that other killer HBO series. McShane is spectacular. His sidekicks are strong, too, especially Dan Dority (W. Earl Brown), who would be a stock character in traditional Westerns but who is nuanced and interesting in Deadwood. Likewise, Trixie (Paula Malcomson) is compelling as she moves between Swearengen and Sol Star (John Hawkes), yet another good character.

I find the Seth Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and Alma Garrett (Molly Parker) characters less interesting and their attempts to be "good" in such a dreadful place as Deadwood almost funny in its earnestness. There's something about Parker I don't like (it could just be her Alma character that annoys), though she is interesting playing opposite Peter Sarsgaard in Center of the World (2001).

Mr. Wu (Keone Young) is a strong player, and then there's Joanie Stubbs (Kim Dickens), especially worth checking out in Things Behind the Sun (2001), directed by Allison Anders.

Let's not forget Doc Cochran (Brad Dourif) and Cy Tolliver (Powers Boothe), both veterans of a film that should be released in digital format -- Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980). Powers Boothe is perfect as Jim Jones, of course, with his "touch of the jungle fever." Dourif is equally good as Hazel Motes in the Flannery O'Connor/John Huston film Wise Blood (1979), along with the always interesting Harry Dean Stanton. This is another flick that should be released in digital.


Viva Deadwood!

Today's Rune: Defense.

Palm Sunday

John Huston's Wise Blood (1980) is a prime candidate for release on DVD and in other digital formats. It's true to the spirit and basics of the Flannery O'Connor 1952 novel of the same name, and features Brad Dourif, Harry Dean Stanton, and an eeriliy cool ensemble cast. Why it has not been released is hard to fathom. Sure it's serious and droll, a hard mix for Hollywood. But so are the times. Bring it back, please!

We're coming to the end of the Lenten season, with Easter one week from today. It seems like yesterday that I converted to Catholicism even though it's already been three years. I don't feel any more saintly, exactly, but it is a comfort and a consolation, and perhaps I'm a little kinder and more patient than I used to be. I hope so.

I'd like to thank the many people who've helped along the way. I'd also like to thank some key people for helping me stay steady and optimistic through thick and thin over the years. I thank my family, of course, my mother Barbara Marie Shaffer France and my father Donald Delbert France; my sisters Vickie Charabati and Linda Stine; and my brother Jamie France; their significant others; and scores more friends and acqaintances, as well.

Today, though, I'll focus on some of the men besides my wonderful father who've been of great help and guidance.

Thanks to Nick Morrow and Wallace Fowlie, Catholic converts who spoke to me at great length about religion, art, philosophy, travel and life in general. Wallace died many years ago; his papers and art collection are now housed at Duke University. Nick is very much alive in New York City, with a house in Connecticut. I used to mock his faith, and he always responded patiently and with a great sense of humor.

Thanks to four guys in particular for their moral support, advice, generosity, hospitality, and comraderie:

It's always fun to mull over various issues with my younger brother Jamie D. France. I am sorry to report that I traumatized him with my movie choices when charged with babysitting Jamie as a kid (he's nine years younger than me). I would take him to see such child-friendly movies as Apocalypse Now!, The Kids Are Alright and Wise Blood. We had a number of memorable misadventures after each of them, too. In adulthood, he's been a steady and reliable brother, always. After Philadelphia and Brooklyn, he now lives with his Canadian-born wife Suzanne (a fellow librarian) in Cary, North Carolina.

I've known Evan Michael Farris since the seventh grade. We've talked about a million things over the years, attended each other's numerous weddings, traveled to Europe and around the States with one pair of ex'es, advised one another when needed, and talked a lot of politics. We once drove out to Colorado together in our early twenties, where I revealed to him that I had $1 in cash to get all the way back. He was very gracious (and bemused). He lives in the DC area with his lovely wife Susan Farris and their lively boys Austin and Sean.

Kenneth Dale Randall, or Kenny Randall as I've always known him, became friends with me and Evan in the ninth grade. We played on the football team and have gone on many interesting road trips and various adventures. When I was down and out with no way to get back to North Carolina, he provided a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner that I'll never forget. He's been a great friend and help in all sorts of ways. In New Hampshire during one of our road trips, Nishan "Baba" Toumajan, an old Armenian friend of my father's, dubbed us "the firebugs" and inspired us to go out and see the world at every opportunity. The idea stuck -- so did the nickname. Kenny -- also known as Ken Randall -- got to Michigan way before I did, and now resides in Midland by the shores of the Chippewa River.

Thanks finally to William Donald Caughlin. We first met as undergraduates in Chapel Hill studying under Jim Leutze, with whom we traveled around Europe for six weeks under the aegis of a summer history program. What a trip! I recently found my class journal and will send it to UNC for safe keeping at some point; Bill plans to do the same with his. We've had many adventures together (including Mardi Gras New Orleans), many excellent conversations, and he's always been most gracious and supportive -- with a wicked sense of humor. Another of the North Carolina diaspora, Bill Caughlin now lives in Texas.

One more time for the back seats -- thanks, all! Happy Easter!

Peace be with you, and more soon.