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The Bad and the BeautifulI can't strongly recommend the film The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) to you. Although it had its good points - the acting, and some parts of the script - it is an essentially formulaic film and much of it falls flat. It's the story of a producer during the golden age of Hollywood, Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas, the prototypical square-jawed hero figure), who builds his studio up from nothing with the help of several individuals, who he ends up using and then throwing away, and who refuse to have anything to do with him after Shields' own principles have brought about his downfall. The story is told in three segments, as Shields is building his reputation as a producer with the help of fledgling director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan); as he's creating one of his greatest hits and turning George Lorrison (Lana Turner) into a star, and as he's creating the film which results in his downfall, based on a novel by writer James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell). But the formula is too obvious from the outset, and though the characters are engaging, the rise and fall of Jonathan Shields is just not that exciting. What happens after the three luminaries leave his circle seems more so, but is outside the scope of the film. And although Shields is clearly not above using people to get where he wants to go, he's also not an unlikable fellow, and it's not at all clear how the audience is supposed to feel about him. In retrospect, the film feels like a bit of a rip-off of Citizen Kane in its portrayal of a great man through the eyes of others. I gotta say, though, I do like Kirk Douglas a lot more than his son, Michael. His acting feels more genuine.
 Yesterday, in addition to the movie, I hit a comic book sale (yes, another one) and also went to browse Mephisto sandals. My Birkenstocks are three years old and very beat up, and probably not worth getting re-soled at this point. So I could buy some new ones, but John has been telling me how great Mephisto sandals are, so I'm considering them. They're certainly a lot more expensive - about 250% as expensive! But, I'm giving it some thought.
Debbi joined me for the movie, and then spent the night, and in the morning we drove up together to a birthday Dim Sum brunch that Lucy organized for about five people with birthdays in August - including herself and her husband John - at Ming's in Palo Alto. There were 13 of us, most of whom I knew, though other than Lucy, John and Debbi only Trish I could say I knew well. A few people I'd met only once or twice. Nonetheless, it was a fun time, and Lucy even decided that everyone should have a card even if it wasn't our birthday. She gave me an adorable "friendship" card with a kitten and a puppy leaning up against each other. Awww!
Debbi and I lounged around for most of the afternoon, watching baseball (the Giants beat the Cubs, the Red Sox beat the Orioles, and the Athletics extended their winning streak to 11 games by beating the Hated Yorkies, sweeping them like they swept the Sox). I was mostly re-reading Stephen Leigh's Dark Water's Embrace for tonight's Kepler's book discussion. Debbi read the first volume of Bone, and eventually departed to do laundry and chores at home. The discussion was quite lively and ran over time a fair bit. Everyone seemed to like the book, although a couple of people found some of it difficult reading because of grammatical errors. People also seemed interested in reading the sequel, and we found we had many things to say about this one. It's perhaps the first book I've recommended to the group, and it went over well. I'm glad. Now we'll see if the moderator will have us read a Ken MacLeod novel in December... I also indulged by craving for fried rice by having some for dinner both last night and tonight. I don't know what it is, I've just been craving fried rice often lately, which is strange since Chinese food has not been high on my "list" for a number of years now (I think I ate too much of it in grad school). Mmm... BBQ pork fried rice sure is yummy, though.
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