Point Breakage, part 1

Long ago–1991 to be more exact–Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty, Gary Busey, the late great Patrick Swayze, and ace director Kathryn Bigelow joined forces with a superb ensemble cast to make POINT BREAK, a movie whose fine bizarreness and insane spirituality are on a par with REPO MAN, THE FISHER KING and SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, to name three more of my top ten favorite films of all time.

I’d wanted to see POINT BREAK since I read Roger Ebert’s three-and-a-half star review about a decade ago. Last week my work buddy Matthew loaned me his DVD copy. I’ve been studying it–watched it once with English subtitles, once with Spanish subtitles, once with frame-freezing for sketching. I’ve seen all the special features and deleted scenes. I’m not quite ready to do a double-acrostic illustrated POINT BREAK poem, but will be soon. Meanwhile, here are two learning sketches.

 

 

 

half a heart, will you?/frailty

These two efforts, one a month in the making and one reactive and near-instantaneous, complement each other, if not quite complimentarily.

frailty

when a dream shatters
one must be careful not to
step on shards barefoot

loving montage

I have just finished watching the DVD of the movie LOVING. For me the story was both deeply moving and relatable. I had an interracial relationship in the 70s, and another in the 80s. Of course, I and the two women who blessed my life with their companionship did not endure nearly the hardship that Mildred and Richard Loving did. But there is some resonance.

I hope more people learn this important story. It underscores a sentiment found in every important belief-system that Humanity has ever conceived. In the Bible it is distilled by “. . . the greatest of these is Love.”

Herein, Lies: A Problem

Long, long ago, Eric Knight, author of LASSIE COME-HOME, wrote a delightful story called “All Yankees Are Liars.” He began the story with this epigram:

You can always tell the English,

You can always tell the Dutch.

You can always tell a Yankee,

But you cannot tell him much.

What goes around comes around. Donald Trump, now President of the United States, is a chronic, unapologetic liar. His recent ploy to smear former president Barack Obama is a shameful attempt to direct attention away from the wrongdoings of some of his advisors, cabinet appointees, and, of course, himself.

My blog has been seen by people from at least 72 different countries. WordPress tells me I have more than 500 followers. So this goes out to all who see it, worldwide. Citizens of Earth, I and other Americans who are proud of what our country has stood for as represented in its Constitution, but are ashamed of what our country has  come to as embodied by our current President and his cohorts, want you to know that we wish, peacefully and legally, to set things aright by ousting this liar, this bad representative of our country.

Thank you for your attention.