May 2021 - Page 4 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

Spider-Verse: 4+ different Spideys

Good thing I don’t suffer from arachnophobia

As I’ve noted, Spider-Man was my favorite character in the Marvel universe. So I decided to watch, in one week in August, four different iterations of the web-slinger, none of which I had seen before. Essentially each is it own Spider-Verse.

Spider-Man 3 (2007): This is the third of the Sam Raimi films. I loved the first two, which I saw back in 2002 and 2004. I’m fond of the players – Tobey Maguire as Peter/Spidey, Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane, and James Franco as Harry Osborn. Yet the film felt too overstuffed with villains. Sandman has a backstory that makes him rather sympathetic. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock is pretty unlikable from the beginning.

And Peter was pretty oblivious to the travails of his girlfriend. If she had left him for Harry, it would have been totally understandable. When this black goo appears on earth, why didn’t it trigger Peter’s Spidey sense?

It was about 1.4 good movies. In other words, too much. Yet I didn’t hate it as much as I had feared.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014): This is the second of the Marc Webb films, with Andrew Garfield as Peter and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. But also overstuffed. I never cared that much about this Harry Osborn. The Elektro villain (Jamie Foxx) had a cringeworthy origin and was not terribly interesting. But this is what tipped me off that I didn’t care: the climax of the film I found oddly undramatic.

Swinging younger

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018): Now this was intriguing. Miles Morales is a nerdy teenager who becomes the Spider-Man of his universe. Is he ready? Heck, no. But he gets help from one Peter B. Parker. At this point, it’s a bit of a buddy pic, in a good sense.

Eventually, fellow web slingers also show up, and they’re wonderful in their own unique ways. The visuals are weird and wonderful, including an absurdly large Kingpin with a relatively tiny head. The movie works because of some fine voice actors, starting with Shameik Moore. I haven’t read the comic book in a quarter-century, yet I recognized this film as the love letter to Spider-Man it was intended to be.

Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019). Where I grew tired of the first two Spidey franchises, I’m actually warming up to the Tom Holland character. Part of it is him being totally weirded out when it appears his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) might be expressing romantic interest with each other.

Meanwhile, Peter is going on a class trip to Europe with his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), his major crush MJ (Zendaya), and the others. Peter ends up doing the superhero gig again, taking on some elementals. Fortunately, he is aided by an alien ally, Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal)! Or so it would seem. Very satisfying up through the closing credits. Then the OMG coda.

A franchise?

Rotten Tomatoes considers Spider-Man, in its various iterations, a franchise. And a successful one, at that.
Average Tomatometer Score/Rank: 81.25% (11th)
Average Audience Score/Rank: 77% (15th)
Average Domestic Box Office/Rank: $411,579,893.13 (7th)

Could the new Spider-Man movie bring all the Spider-Men together?

May rambling: Goblet of Empathy

Digital divide, and the home appraisal gap

vaccine_guidance — From https://xkcd.com/2434/

“Police are investigating a threat of violence directed at a local cocktail lounge after its owner announced that he will require proof of coronavirus vaccination before admitting patrons when the bar reopens next weekend. Matt Baumgartner said that in less than four hours Thursday afternoon he received more than 100 messages via phone, email, and social media, nearly all sharply critical of the stance. Some threatened boycotts, others vandalism, and one threatened violence. ”

I’d be MORE inclined to go there myself. Boycott if they want, but why are some people threatening his right to run his business as he pleases?

Mitch McConnell admits he is fully committed to blocking everything. He said the same thing in 2010.

Biden’s Great Economic Rebalancing.

The Reagan Era is Finally Over.

Anti-Black Police Violence Constitutes Crimes Against Humanity and They Were Sons.

11 Moments From Asian American History That You Should Know.

Gallup: Does Capitalism Need a Soul Transplant?

Red States Crack Down on Protests.

Tucker Carlson Is Emblematic of Today’s Republican Party.

The Baby Bump That Wasn’t.

Marital Histories Differ Between Native-Born and Foreign-Born Adults.

You Won’t Need a Real ID Until 2023.

Why Going to the Doctor Sucks.

I’m good with an Excelsior Wallet, proof of having been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Chart from the CDC: Choosing Safer Activities.

What is the digital divide?

How the home appraisal gap makes homeownership more difficult and costly for Black families.

Aaron Mair: The Problem With Climate Havens.

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
-Henry David Thoreau

Disney Must Pay!

Living With the Sackler Name.

Hair: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

‘Street Gang’ Director Marilyn Agrelo On All The Secrets She Learned About Sesame Street.

Olympia Dukakis, Academy Award-winning actress, dies at 89.

How My Ex-Husband Became One of My Best Friends.

And more

Beavers Wipe Out Town’s Internet.

Did This Man Have the Longest Name of the 20th Century?

LEGOLAND NY prepares to open.

Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border.

Not me: “They (People in low vaccinated areas) felt they were being overlooked and neglected,” said Roger Green Sr., the pastor at Mt. Zion. “What we have done is brought it to their front door.”.

Not me: Kent tokens dropped by traders fleeing the Great Fire of London could fetch thousands. Roger Green, who is originally from Kent, spent 35 years collecting the tokens along the muddy banks of the River Thames.

Now I Know: The Trees That Rock and When Foxes Flew (Against Their Will) and Four Weddings and Divorce or Three and The Road Repair That Broke Science and Harvard Versus Hard Knocks and The Other Side of Midnight and More Accurately, He Was The Hamburglar and There’s No Such Thing As a Lot of Free Pennies and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Empathy.

Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like ‘struggle.’
Fred Rogers

MUSIC

Take a minute to listen to Prelude No. 16 in B-flat minor, opus 28, for solo piano by Chopin.

Clang, Clang, Clang Went Josh Hawley! – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody.

Iko Iko – Song Around the World.

It’s For You – Peter Sprague, featuring Rebecca Jade.

We Need To Get Past Covid – Shelly Goldstein.

Rob Roy Overture by Hector Berlioz.

LOUBOUTINS 2.0 – Aubrey Logan.

R.I.P., Jim Steinman.

It’s All Coming Back To Me Now – Celine Dion.

So This Is Love – Peter Sprague, featuring Sinne Eeg.

I Love NY medley.

Our Town suite by Aaron Copland.

For Good – Chenowith, and Menzel.

Coverville 1357: Cover Stories for Lesley Gore and Robert Johnson.

Both Sides Now – the MonaLisa Twins.

Willie Nelson.

Jeepers Creepers – Julian Neel.

Many more Flintstones versions

The women of jazz fought racism and sexism to open doors for their sisters.

Roberta Flack – her musical gift to us has spanned more than 5 decades.

Songs that use augmented chords.

22 years: Negotiations and love songs

taxes could have been the death of us

I highly suspect that we’ve managed to stay married 22 years because of Negotiations and Love Songs. It includes a division of turf.

When we’re on ZOOM at an event, we are generally at separate devices. This is a function of having very different computer habits involving when to mute et al. It is also that we often see couples on the same screen and we sometimes have difficulty hearing one or both of them.

Conversely, when we’re watching our Sunday church service on Facebook Live, we generally sit together. This allows us the opportunity to worship together. Back in the olden days – March 2020 and before – she’d be in the congregation, but I would be in the choir loft.

She has bank accounts, as do I. Then we have joint accounts. I certainly don’t fault couples who operate otherwise, but this works for us. I pay for the mortgage, utilities, Internet. She buys groceries, pays for the vehicle, and makes the church contribution.

Some couples share email, but we never could. I may still have a lot of it to go through, but I’ve read them all. She often has stuff unread; we’re talking four digits.

This brings us to taxes. Before we were married, I usually filed a 1040A or even a 1040-RZ (as in easy). I never itemized my deductions. This was codified by a philosophy of a radical Catholic couple I know. The general theory is that you give not for the deduction but because it’s right. The fact that it was EZ was a bonus.

But my wife, who owned rental property before, and when we were first married, filled out a Schedule C. So she’s always done the long-form taxes.

Last year of the century

I remember quite vividly the spring of 2000 since we had gotten married the year before. Not only we filling out the 1040 form, me for the first time, but we had also received a decennial long-form Census and were completing that as well. I will say that the Census info was extremely accurate.

But doing the taxes was causing us… stress, every year. This was particularly true when we must have done something wrong a couple of times and ended up paying penalty and interest. So we ended up hiring someone.

One time, the accountants ALSO got something wrong, and we had to pay more, but they absorbed the penalty and interest. I figured if they’re professionals and muck it up, how should I know? I know there’s TurboTax and the like, but trust me, this is one of those expenses designed to preserve the union.

This year, she asked me which amount goes on the work form for my Social Security, the amount before or after the Medicate expenditure? I don’t know. This suggests the gross before Medicare comes out. But does the Medicare payment and other medical expenses reach the 7.5% threshold for deductibility? (I fell asleep while typing the previous sentence.)

So, as the Paul Simon compilation title goes, Negotiations and Love Songs. Happy anniversary, dear.

Singer Lloyd Price (1933-2021)

Mr. Personality

It wasn’t until I was watching CBS Sunday Morning on May 9 that I heard about the death of Lloyd Price six days earlier. He was a rhythm and blues star and an early rock influence.

Lloyd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Of the “rock and roll pioneer,” the site noted that he propelled “his own music career and [broke] down doors for Little Richard and Elvis Presley to deliver rock and roll to millions of fans.

“As an entertainment industry entrepreneur, [he] wrote smash hits, launched and owned clubs and record labels, and promoted concerts and sporting events. His talent, positive energy, tireless drive, and love of music still reverberate to this day.”

Lawdy Miss Clawdy, #1 RB for seven weeks in 1952 – a groundbreaking cut that I recall, even though it came out before I was born
Oooh-Oooh-Oooh, #4 RB in 1952, he had several massive hits on the black charts that did not cross over in those pre-rock days
Restless Heart, #5 RB in 1952
Ain’t It A Shame, #4 RB in 1953
Tell Me Pretty Baby, #8 RB in 1953 – a real New Orleans feel

After a stint in Korea for the US Army

Just Because, #3 RB for two weeks, #29 pop in 1957
Stagger Lee, #1 for four weeks both RB and pop in 1959. From PBS: “‘American Bandstand’ host Dick Clark worried the song was too violent for his teen-centered show and pressed Price to revise it: For ‘Bandstand’ watchers and some future listeners, Stagger Lee and Billy peacefully resolve their dispute.”

Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day), #4 RB, #23 pop in 1959
Personality, #1 RB for four weeks, #2 for three weeks pop in 1959. This hit, plus his affable nature, led to his nickname, “Mr. Personality.”
I’m Gonna Get Married, #1 RB for three weeks, #3 for two weeks pop in 1959
Come Into My Heart, #2 RB for three weeks, #20 pop in 1959

Wont’cha Come Home, #6 RB, #43 pop in 1960
Lady Luck, #3 RB for three weeks, #14 pop in 1960
Question, #5 RB, #19 pop in 1960
Misty, #11 RB, #21 pop in 1963. The standard.

More music

Lloyd Price “found his way into other professions through a wide range of friends and acquittances. He… along with boxing promoter Don King, helped stage the 1973 ‘Thrilla in Manila’ between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali and the 1974 ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ championship fight between Ali and George Foreman. He was also a home builder, a booking agent, an excellent bowler, and the creator of a line of food products.”

Cleaning out the email closet

advocate reform

I’d been doing it all wrong. In cleaning out the email, I usually would get rid of the recent stuff I no longer needed: a ZOOM meeting link, a notice of delivery I now had received, or some other action item either completed or rendered moot.

But I hadn’t gone back to the oldest stuff. It’s been a much more profitable process. Deleting passwords for defunct websites, work-related material I no longer need.

In June 2009, my friend Dan wrote to me. “I’m currently reading a book called Misquoting Jesus, a readable explanation of the textual inconsistencies of the New Testament. The author is Bart D. Ehrman, who explains in the introduction that he was born and raised a hard-core Midwest Fundy.

“But after he grew up and became a scholar of biblical textual criticism he abandoned the notion of Biblical literalism, simply because he realized that it is completely impossible to know the original text.” It sounded interesting enough that I thought I might pick up, but I haven’t yet.

Dan noted, “If speaking in tongues is referred to in Acts, then it is a tradition that was grafted on to Christianity, like Xmas trees. There really is no textual basis for speaking in tongues, unless one considers Paul of greater importance than the guy from Nazareth.”

It’s such a consequential and controversial book that there have been whole tomes written to refute it, such as Misreprenting Jesus by Edward Andrews, and Misquoting Truth by Timothy Paul Jones.

Not political

Pat from Binghamton a friend of mine who died a couple of years ago, included this message:

In the sacred bonds of our common humanity, we give thanks for the life that we share and for our calling to care for each other. We acknowledge that we have failed to care for every member of our human family, and have not ensured that all may receive the healthcare they need for the life that YOU intend!

Strengthen us to use our hearts, hands, and voices to raise our vision for a healthcare future that includes everyone and works well for all of us

Gracious God, we remember that your plan for us is fullness of life, lived with love, mercy, and justice

Assist our leaders in Congress, our President, and all of us as citizens to advocate reform that will be fair for everyone.

Chief Tuffey

A senior at SUNY Albany was doing a story on then Albany police chief Tuffey. How/why she was writing to ME, I now have no idea. I have no recollection of this exchange, BTW.

What exactly did Tuffey mean by using the term spook? What was he indicating?

I don’t know Chief Tuffey. I don’t know what HE meant. But many of the white people of his generation who use it mean either a black person generally or a lazy and/or shiftless black person.

What do you think made him say this?

Not being a mind reader, I don’t know. In the context of the reporting, I think he was trying to say that [Richard Bailey] the young white man (and son of a cop!) is a priority. Black victims, poor victims happen all the time, but Bailey was special.

At the same time, the murder also took place in an “unlikely” neighborhood, and perhaps he feared an unsolved murder not in the South End or Arbor/West Hill would be a signal to the public about the safety of Albany generally.

Ramifications

How will this affect the African-American community? Could they possibly retaliate in some way?

I wouldn’t speak for the black community, but I think Tuffey’s departure makes retaliation unlikely. I’d be curious, though, if it will affect the primary next Tuesday between Tuffey’s prime supporter and a black man; unless there are exit polls (exit polls in a city primary?), we won’t know if the Tuffey issue resonated with voters.

Do you think Tuffey’s recent retirement has anything to do with this?

Yes, and the clear support that the idea of getting rid of him seemed to have had within the police rank-and-file, not only over this incident but that embarrassing “can he carry a gun?” issue in the last year, seems to bear this out. This recent incident was the final straw, not the singular cause.

Nope, don’t remember

Wow. I now have blocked Tuffey, and the incident, from my mind, possibly because Albany has had three (?) police chiefs since then. BTW, Tuffey died in 2019.

This is fun. At this rate, I should have my email box totally clear by 2027.