Of Badlands, a film made by Terence Malik in 1973, the critic David Thomson has written: “may be the most assured first film by an American since Citizen Kane.” My interest in seeing it came about, not from its place in cinema history, but rather because of a personal discovery.
No New Taxes?
There is one candidate for public office whom I will never vote for. That’s not because the candidate belongs to a party that I do not support. Nor is it a matter of gender or religion or likability.
The person I will never choose on an election day is the one who promises never to raise taxes.
Extreme Century
If anyone deserves to be a pessimist, Robert Jay Lifton would seem ideally equipped. After all, this psychiatrist-scholar, now in his middle 80s, has spent much of his career studying groups of people connected with some of the greatest evils of the 20th century.
These four groups are 1) people subjected to “thought reform” forced on them by Chinese communists in mid-century; 2) victims of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945; 3) anti-war American veterans of the Vietnam War; and 4) doctors who cooperated with the Nazi regime.
Memorable Toilet
Among the new photos in my computerized collection, one stands out for peculiarity. It focuses on a toilet. Among the thousands in my files, this is the only bathroom view.
My excuse? This toilet rates as an historical object. In the first four years of the twentieth century, it was used by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Skype
An evening’s international conversation over Skype has shown once again what a stupendous communications device this is.
To have detailed images of Tom and Maria, our friends in Montreal, filling my computer screen and those of my wife Susan and me filling theirs stirred in me feelings of awe. How can this free service provide such face-to-face contact so simply and without fail?
We had scope to review family news, as well as evaluation of Terrence Malik’s film “The Tree of Life” and Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” We finished by exchanging details on our friends’ forthcoming visit.
Among the technology wonders of our age, Skype deserves much more than honorable mention,
Stem Cell Research and Warning
When it comes to cellular biology, I confess profound ignorance. The subject, undeveloped when I did my schooling, escaped me almost entirely. I am awed when I hear the human body contains ten trillion cells, but I have only the vaguest idea what cells look like and how they function.
World of Horror
Statistics of human trafficking throughout the world overwhelm my imagining. Reliable estimates put the figure at 30 million. These tragically unfortunate people have fallen victim to various forms of enforced degradation that violate their dignity and their human rights.