The Cheese Stands Alone

Sa 9/30/17 Last night I watched the last episode of THE CONFESSION TAPES- Detroit couple lose four kids in a car accident. Dad has a leg cramp and drives the station wagon into the river. He clearly was coerced into confessing. Then INSIDE THE MIND OF A SERIAL KILLER. A man in Norway murders 77 people for political reasons. I think that technically he's a Mass Murderer rather than a Serial Killer. You say tomato... Read James Lee Burke 3am- 4am, and up 510am. Cool and sunny- low 70's. Watched Netflix disc, HAPPY TEARS. Reasonably well-done Independent; Parker Posie/ Demi More/ Rip Torn. Two daughters try to place their father into a home- he's losing it. Shot in Blue-Collar suburban Pittsburgh. Not nearly as good as SAVAGES. 1215pm I biked downtown to mail the disc at the Monroe PO and then back to FitClub. Out Wash Pk/ Back Monroe straight West- about an hour in the saddle. 45" Walk. 3.6/0. Ankle is a problem; I've got to mention this to Dr. Elli...

Fr 9/29/17 Last night watched TIME- THE KALIEF BROWDER STORY (first episode of series), then a BOJACK HORSEMAN. 4am- Reread most of PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE by Gore Vidal and more of PHANTOM LADY. Up 5am and watched Netflix disc SPLIT. Reminded me how excellent James Mcavoy was in FILTH. However, I didn't really understand the end of SPLIT. Was that really Bruce Willis and why? Messed with PC and I think I've taken care of the 'slow-down' on Google Maps. Ya gotta ACCELERATE! I'll make sure that the other PC is updated later this afternoon. More perfect weather- 70's and sunny. Ran outside around noon. Fairway/Lynn/Oak/West- 33". Biked to the credit union to get the $500 cash for the tattoo. Found a mailbox among the office buildings on Iles to mail the disc to Netflix on the way to FitClub. 40" on the bike; Oak/Iles/ C. Union/Rickard. 45" Cross. 45" Recumbent Bike. 30" Old Style Cross. Legs/Chest/Biceps. Whirlpool/pool. ...

Read PHANTOM LADY very early for about and hour and out of bed by 530am.  More deliciously cool and sunny weather. Low 70's and breezy. Watched the last hour and a half of 15 MINUTES. Not a bad film, but not a great one either. Then I watched the Werner Herzog film SALT AND FIRE. Exquisite cinematography and a beautiful soundtrack, but as a Black Comedy it kind of missed the mark. Hard to tell if the humor was intended, and I guess maybe that was the point. Napped a bit since I was fairly tired. I read more of the Cornell Woolrich novel and biked to Planet Fitness and the Wabash PO just after 12pm. 45" Walk. 3.7/0. 45" Recumbent Bike (PHANTOM LADY). 45" Cross. 30" Bike (read). 30" Cross. A few of the Life Fitness equipment. Watching the Republicans shill for tax cuts for the 'One Percenters' that are guaranteed to make us all rich. When I got home I called Dick Van Dyke to find out when they would be over to repair my $6,000 appliance. The mothe...

.We 9/27/17 Last night I watched a film  set in Wales called DARK SIGNAL. Mediocre at best; the tale of a serial killer operating on the last evening's transmission of a radio station in a remote area of the country. His MO was that he cut of his victim's ring fingers with a bolt cutter. In the end, it was the station manager. Ho-Hum. I was up about 230am and read and re-completed IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND. Not a bad novel, and I've got a ton of notes for the meeting. I'm going to bet that it will not be popular with the group, but I've been wrong before. Up 6am to some deliciously cool Fall-like temps. Cloudy and breezy and never above the lower 70's all day. I watched two episodes of the ABC series, AMERICAN CRIME. When I set out the trash I included a couple more armloads of ancient paperbacks. 1130am drove to the club. 45" Walk. 3.7/0. 45" Recumbent Bike. 30" Cannon??? 30" Recumbent Bike. 30" Cross. Legs/Biceps/Chest. 30...

Tu 9/26/17 Last night I watched an excellent comedy called WHY STOP NOW (Jesse Eisenberg/ Melissa Leo/ Tracy Morgan). Mom's an addict, but she's been clean for a week and there's nothing in her system. So, she and her son must make one last score so that she can enter rehab- melee ensues. Very funny and offbeat. Then, another episode of AMERICAN VANDAL.  Awake around 230am and read the Pat Barker novel for an hour and a half. Up 6am- last day of the heat and humidity. Tonight temps into the low sixties and only to the mid to upper 70's on Thursday- Seventies for as long as the eye can see! Watched a fairly decent (no more than that) Spanish film about a number of people trapped in a bar after two people are shot dead at the entrance and the authorities ignore them.  I got an email from Kevin saying that he had a sketch and he'd be in today and tomorrow. I emailed back and said that I 'd bike over and be there in 45" (1025am). He had the sketc...

Mo 9/25/17 Last night I watched about an hour of THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE, and then read more of Ian Copeland's memoir. Around 330am I read for another hour and finished the book. Up 530am and wrote up WILD THING, and then watched a mediocre film with Nicholas Cage called RAGE. Cage is a mobster gone straight and his 16 year old daughter is murdered. Evidence points to The Russian Mob, but it's actually she was accidentally shot by one of her boyfriends- playing with handguns can be deadly! Wrote an email to Janny telling them that I'd see them at Bo's birthday on Oct. 7th. 1115am drove to the 'Y' and stopped for $17.00 worth of gas at Clocktower. One Hour Walk. 3.7/0. 45" Recumbent Bike (Rereading IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND). 45" Cross. 30" Recumbent Bike (reading). 30" Cross. 10" Steam room. Stopped at County Market at Fairhills for the weekly shopping- $47.00. Home to start the Pat Barker trilogy, REGENERATION for a littl...

Su 9/24/17 Last night I watched the first three out of six episodes of THE UNITED STATES OF TARA. Great series, but I can't believe that this is the brainchild of Steven Spielberg.  Read and finished IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND from 330am-430am; up 5am. When I started this novel, I didn't really like it, but by the end- I couldn't wait to start it all over again. I am interested to see how the rest of the group will rate this one.  Watched the last three episodes of THE UNITED STATES OF TARA and then I watched an Argentinian film called SHOWROOM. Set in Buenos Aires and a resort town called Le Tigre, 30 miles to the north. A man is broke and to support his wife and daughter he takes a job selling apartments in a city high-rise. He ends up living in the 'showroom' and loses his family- a dark and bleak comedy. It didn't get very good reviews, but I was satisfied.  I did the weekly cleaning- upstairs and downstairs (I did the laundry and the cat bo...

Sa 9/23/17 Last night I watched the first half hour of SNOWDEN. It was a long film and I wanted to see as much as possible in one fell swoop, then an episode of  THE CONFESSION TAPES , and a WOMEN BEHIND BARS.  This morning I read IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND very early; up 540am. Watched the rest of SNOWDEN. Star-studded cast; Timothy Olyphant, Nick Cage, Melissa Leo, Tom Wilkerson, and more. And, Oliver Stone provided his obligatory leftist bent, but what the fuck, Bush's administration was shredding the Bill of Rights and wiping their asses with it.  945am ran outside. Very hot and humid. It looks like Sunday (Tuesday?) will be the last day of the ninety degree heat and humidity. Then the temps drop back into the 70's- can't wait. Lynn/Oak/Green- 33", and I didn't see 'The Village Idiot'. He's back on the street. I saw him earlier in the week.  Biked to the Wabash PO to drop off the disc, and a workout at Planet Fitness. 45" ...

Th 9/22/17 Last night I watched Netflix disc CITY OF GOLD. A bio-pic of Jonathan Gold, staff writer and food critic for The Los Angeles Times, and when he was younger he wrote a music column for The LA Weekly. He was the first food critic who showcased small, mom'n'pop foreign restaurants in the lesser known areas of LA. Great film and the guy has great taste (no pun intended). His take on music was insightful and I'd follow any of his recommendations.  Read for 330am-445am, and out of bed by 5am. Watched an excellent film called THE DROWNING. The novel was written by Pat Barker and she had a trilogy about WWI that I actually found in the study. For twenty years I thought that this book was written by a man- Patrick. The film was kind of like the old movie, 'The Bad Seed'.  More furnace heat and humidity- mid 90's by late afternoon. After the film I read IN THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND for a couple of hours (some nap time) and then on the bike to mail th...

Th 9/21/17 Last night I watched VINCENT N ROXXY. Kind of a B-Movie affair, and it didn't get very good reviews, but I was satisfied. Set in Zachary, LA- about thirty miles north of Baton Rouge, and the action was quite bloody, but the actors were not up to snuff. In places, it reminded me what it would sound like if toddlers recited the lines of CASINO.  Up 545am and read MARIETTE  IN ECSTASY around 4am. Molten heat and humidity- very sticky and temps to mid 90's. Watched Jennifer Lopez in a melodrama about the hundreds of women that have been killed or 'disappeared' along the border with Mexico at Juarez/El Paso after NAFTA. The foreign series was so much better, but this one was worth a look.   At 10am I got the call from Dick Van Dyke and the clerk said that a tech would be at the house between 2pm and 5pm. I drove to Planet Fitness and was on the machines at 1030am. 45" Walk. 3.8/0 (movin' right along). 45" Recumbent Bike (Began IN THE COUN...

We 9/20/17 Last night I watched an English Horror/Suspense called THE FORGOTTEN. A kid and his father live in an abandoned estate complex and the apartment next-door is haunted. A ghost woman calls out that her husband has a knife.....turns out that the kid's girlfriend (she's just his friend) is the woman's baby- the knife attack had happened nearly twenty years ago. Well done, but the apartment was far too spacious. Up 645am; read MARIETTE IN ECSTASY at 4am. Very warm, but not too humid. Sunny and temps to the mid 90's. Watched an excellent satire on the Afghanistan war called WAR MACHINE. Brad Pitt was terrific as the clueless, gung-ho general- in charge-of- war. When I tried to microwave the 'cabbage/oatmeal surprise' I couldn't get the microwave to turn on although when I opened the door, the light came on. I flipped switches in the box downstairs, but that did nothing. At 9am I called Dick Van Dyke and they'll be out tomorrow....don't kno...

This is the first post in the journal without the aid of the typewriter. Yesterday I drove to Peoria to see if I could have the Adler desk model repaired at PTC Select  on Knoxville. The shift key would not lock and the capitals would not type on the same level as the regular characters. It was $49.50 for labor and the guy said that he could not order parts and the situation was dire. This morning he called back to say that nothing could be done- two parts had completely worn away, and I decided that he could keep the machine (for scrap) and I would send him a check for his labor. Last night I began AMERICAN HISTORY X (20") and then I watched an English true crime series installment (50") called WITNESS MURDER FILES. It concerned a young man from the Orkney Islands of Scotland who murdered a waiter only because he was a foreigner. Odd that the theme of this show was so similar to the movie- this was not intentional. Another 3 beer night. This morning I was up at 615am aft...