Tag Archives: Movies

To Kill a Mockingbird

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Neighborhood Mockingbird

Neighborhood Mockingbird

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. – Matthew 26:39.

Being a juror this week has been a horrible and awful experience. I seriously considered and reconsidered being sick. But this has been an experience that I would wish on no one, not even the alternates. This ordeal is over and I am now permitted to speak about it. I have a lot to say and the complete story will eventually dribble out. For now, I look forward to going back to work today. Back to my mundane routine and then a weekend’s respite.

Atticus Finch: I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he’d rather I’d shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted – if I could hit ’em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.
Jem: Why?
Atticus Finch: Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat people’s gardens, don’t nest in the corncrib, they don’t do one thing but just sing their hearts out.

There is one exception to the kill a mockingbird prohibition. That would be the mockingbird that use to poop all over my front porch. There was never any gunplay involved with his disappearance. I’ve always suspected the alpha predator, the cat that lived across the street, but I have no proof.

Le Petit Juror

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Joggers in the Park

Joggers in the Park

I’m out! I’m out of the Little Drummer Boy Game for this year. This game is simple; as soon as you hear the Little Drummer Boy Christmas carol you are out of the game and must publicly announce it. I was cycling in the park. I cruised by Steinberg Ice Rink and it was blaring from the PA system. My only consolation is that I made it a little longer than I did last year. There is always next year.

As the photo with this post implies, it has been unusually warm this weekend. We’ve had highs in the seventies both days. Close to the record highs. Temperatures like these make it easy to workup a sweat.

You are hereby summoned for jury services in the Saint Louis County Circuit Courts, then and these to serve as a petit juror until discharged by the Court. – My summons

I have jury duty tomorrow. The weather looks like it will remain warm, so I think that I’ll bicycle to court. No, I won’t be wearing any bike togs, except for my helmet, just street clothes. It is less than two miles to the courthouse, so I should be able to ride it without getting all sweaty.

My instructions say not to bring any weapons or cameras to court. There was a shooting years back, in a domestic case, so now everyone must go through a security checkpoint. I never planned on bringing a weapon to court, but I would like to bring my iPhone. I’ve been told that there is lots of waiting around involved. Unfortunately, my iPhone does have a camera embedded. I can just see the bailiff telling me to turn around and put my phone in the car and then have to explain that I didn’t drive. I’ll try calling in the morning, before I leave. I will have a book.

I suspect that I won’t be asked to serve on a jury. My juror number is too high. I suspect that I’ll spend Monday and maybe Tuesday splashing around in the juror pool and then be discharged. This is the first time that I’ve ever been summoned for jury duty, so the novelty of the experience has created some anticipation. I’m sure that this novelty will quickly wear thin, when the interminable waiting begins.

I have prepared myself for this civic responsibility. I’ve read the instructions sent to me. I checked out the court’s website and gleamed a few more details. I’ve discussed the process with people at work who have already served. Most importantly though, I have watched a couple of movies. You know, training videos.

The first one was “Twelve Angry Men”, starring Henry Fonda. This movie takes place entirely within the jury deliberation room, on a hot summer’s evening in 1950s NYC. One-by-one Fonda, the lone holdout convinces his fellow jurors of the defendant’s innocence of murder. The other movie is “Runaway Jury”. John Cusack plays Juror #9 on the inside, while Rachel Weisz teams with him from the outside. They conspire to subvert the jury system in a high-profile civil litigation against the gun industry. While what they do is wrong, their actions are inspired to prevent and even greater miscarriage of justice, personified by Gene Hackman, jury consultant for the defense. Tomorrow should be an interesting day, except for all the boring parts.

Lincoln

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Lincoln Penny

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” – Genesis 22.9-11

We carry him around in our pockets every day, and yet we still wonder who he was. Wonder and awe were both evoked by Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln”. I urge you to run, not walk, to go see this movie. It is just that good. Anne, Joanie and I saw it in a sold-out performance on Saturday night at the Chase. At the heart of this movie is Daniel Day-Lewis’ extraordinary portrayal of Abraham Lincoln.

The crux of this movie is the legislative struggle to pass the 13th Amendment, the abolishment of slavery. The Civil War is still ongoing. Its ending is a foregone conclusion, yet thousands continue to die. Lincoln is left to make a Solomon-like decision, free the slaves, absolutely, or sue for an early peace and a less perfect union.

It has been said that diners should never see the kitchens of great restaurants. Likewise, patients should never view the basements of hospitals. Finally, the voting public should never witness the making of laws. This movie splays the sausage making wide. Lincoln’s henchmen were prohibited from using the newly minted half-dollar coins with his likeness on them, for bribes.

Employing all his wiles and through sheer force of will, he ramrods this legislation through Congress. Like his namesake Abraham, Lincoln was willing to sacrifice all for an ideal and very nearly did. “I am the president of the United States of America, cloaked in immense power. Go and get me those votes!”

Rare is the movie that so deftly captures its subject and so aptly captivates the audience. Critics have criticized, because that’s what they do, the bookending of this movie with the recitation of the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. They complain that their invocation was too heavy-handed. I thought that the Gettysburg Address was cleverly handled. The Second Inaugural Address serves as epilogue, replacing the man upon his pedestal.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

History has taught us of Lincoln the myth. This movie shows us Lincoln the man. We see him in his family life. We see him at his work. We see him feeling lighthearted and also dour. We see him as we have not seen him before. Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the movie?

Keeping You in the Loop

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Moose Head at Blueberry Hill

First off, Anne and I went to get our heads shaved today. This may not sound like much, but hear me out. I went in and got my basic haircut, but Anne wanted a haircut like Jane’s. Anne didn’t have a picture to show the stylist, but in the end came away with a pretty accurate rendition. Next, we did some grocery shopping, sailed by the post office and then swung home again and picked up Dave.

We drove to the U City Loop and had lunch at Blueberry Hill. The moose is part of this establishment’s rather eclectic decor. This being Small Business Saturday, we walked up and down the Loop and shopped. We didn’t buy anything, but it was interesting trying. The Loop is a way cooler shopping experience than any old mall could be.

Next, I went biking in the park. The wind had died down, but it was a lot colder than it has been. The combination of the cold weather and the already setting sun caused me to cut-short my ride. I’ll have to dig out the lights, so that getting caught out after dark isn’t such a big deal.

Last night I watched “The Conspirator”, Robert Redford’s movie about the trial of Mary Surratt, the sole woman accused in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. It is free to Amazon Prime subscribers. As near as I can tell Redford’s movie starts where Steven Spielberg’s movie “Lincoln” ends. When I see “Lincoln” it will be interesting to compare and contrast some of the historical figures that surely will appear in both movies. Of particular interest will be the “Lincoln” portrayal of Secretary of War Stanton. Kevin Kline rather evilly plays him in “Conspirator”.

Redford’s movie is a scream of outrage at the miscarriage of justice by the military tribunals that were used to convict the Lincoln conspirators. Just when you think that this kangaroo court cannot run any further off the rails of justice, it does. The historical echos for our modern-day tribunals at Gitmo are unmistakable. I believe that the Lincoln tribunals have even been used as precedent for the Gitmo ones.

That TV Guy

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Transported to a surreal landscape,
a young girl kills the first person she meets,
and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

That TV Guy, also-know-as Rick Polito, is the author of this one-sentence summation of the movie classic, The Wizard of Oz. Written circa 1998, this is arguably the funniest one-line synopsis of a movie. Dogmomster first clued me into his humor, when she reposted on Facebook, a George Takei repost. I enjoyed it when she introduced me to it and then some time passed. Last weekend, I happened upon Pacific Standard’s article on the same subject, “The Wizard of Oz in One Sentence“. This article gave me Mr. Polito’s name and with a little googling, I found both his Facebook page and website. I won’t plagiarise any of his many other movie summaries, so check them out for yourselves.

I love The Wizard of Oz. This wasn’t always the case. As a child I would gleefully sit before our family’s TV and even though with our set, more than just the first ten minutes of the movie was in black and white, I marveled at its magic. That is until the monkeys showed up. At about this time, I would scurry to my bedroom, but I could still here the movie’s soundtrack, as the rest of my family enjoyed this classic film. Somehow I always found my courage or maybe the lion’s and caught the movie’s climax, when the wicked witch became undone. 

You cursed brat! Look what you’ve done! I’m melting! melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?

I always enjoyed Judy Garland’s rendition of the opus song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, with her beautiful contralto voice. Ashleigh Grace has posted on Soundcloud a great cover. You can play it below. Check it out.

Scopitone

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Scopitone was a 1960s era type of jukebox featuring a 16 mm film component. Scopitone films were a forerunner of modern music videos. The first Scopitones were made in France. I became aware of these videos through my brother-in-law Carl. He first showed me them last September while we were busily preparing to travel to Lopez Island for Robyn’s wedding. I don’t know if Carl was nervous about traveling there, but I was. We watched his Scopitone music videos, as a sort of pre-game warm-up exercise. He later sent us the DVD. “Pussy Cat A Go Go”, performed by Stacy Adams and the Rockabily Boys, was the first video on the disk. Yes it is plainly misogynistic, but it is also a product of it’s time, plus it’s French. The second video, “What I Say”, by Sylvie Vartan is not sexist, but it is even more French, Est ce Que Tu Le Sais.