Wednesday, September 18, 2019
MOYNIHAN Documentary (2018)
In 2018, I enjoyed seeing a trailer for a documentary about Patrick Moynihan, but it played very briefly in theaters so I waited a long time for it to appear on DVD and video on demand (VOD). Had a chance to see it this week.
I remember Moynihan from my high school years in the mid-70s (he served in both LBJ and Nixon administrations) and he was later a Senator from NY (replaced by Hillary Clinton in 2001); he died in 2004. He was an example of self-recreation, from poor/broken family, worked on docks while going to City College for free at night, ended up in military which paid for his PhD at Tufts, later served multiple presidencies and Harvard.
Was reminded many times of Shakespeare's observation, "What's Past is Prologue." Here are a few themes from Moynihan's life :
(1) Early case study in the pile-on phenomenon re political correctness, re his 1965 white paper on the Negro Family and broken households leading to "blaming the victim" accusations.
(2) Close to idea of Universal Income with Family Assistance Program (FAP) (not passed) and later Earned Income Tax Credit (IITC) which did pass. This is still a theme in 2019 Democratic debates.
(3) Theme of "democracy in crisis" was fully voiced in 60s, as it is in 2010s. In UN speeches, he said that democracies were about 25 of 140 nations, and there were "sharks in the water" for the rest.
(4) He was criticized as being an embarrassing and loud nutcase in his representation of US at UN, and saying too much, and in the wrong way, leading to worsening of situations.
(5) Ethnic groups vs melting pots. In writing Beyond the Melting Pot, he talked about the preservation of ethnicity in US, still a big theme today (balance of ethnicity vs melting pot; foreign language in public schools, etc). Similarly in US and Europe re: integration or isolation of Muslim cultures.
Film Website
http://danielpatrickmoynihan.com/
Hollywood Reporter Review
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/moynihan-1149047
LA Times Review
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-moynihan-review-20181011-story.html
Rotten Tomatoes
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/moynihan
Amazon (both DVD & VOD)
https://www.amazon.com/Moynihan-Daniel-Patrick/dp/B07MWQ9CMB
Trivia
Henry Kissinger is still around (96 in 2019) and is interviewed several times in the film. (So is George F. Will). For a very rare clip of Kissinger interviewed in German (2014), on Youtube, here.
I remember Moynihan from my high school years in the mid-70s (he served in both LBJ and Nixon administrations) and he was later a Senator from NY (replaced by Hillary Clinton in 2001); he died in 2004. He was an example of self-recreation, from poor/broken family, worked on docks while going to City College for free at night, ended up in military which paid for his PhD at Tufts, later served multiple presidencies and Harvard.
Was reminded many times of Shakespeare's observation, "What's Past is Prologue." Here are a few themes from Moynihan's life :
(1) Early case study in the pile-on phenomenon re political correctness, re his 1965 white paper on the Negro Family and broken households leading to "blaming the victim" accusations.
(2) Close to idea of Universal Income with Family Assistance Program (FAP) (not passed) and later Earned Income Tax Credit (IITC) which did pass. This is still a theme in 2019 Democratic debates.
(3) Theme of "democracy in crisis" was fully voiced in 60s, as it is in 2010s. In UN speeches, he said that democracies were about 25 of 140 nations, and there were "sharks in the water" for the rest.
(4) He was criticized as being an embarrassing and loud nutcase in his representation of US at UN, and saying too much, and in the wrong way, leading to worsening of situations.
(5) Ethnic groups vs melting pots. In writing Beyond the Melting Pot, he talked about the preservation of ethnicity in US, still a big theme today (balance of ethnicity vs melting pot; foreign language in public schools, etc). Similarly in US and Europe re: integration or isolation of Muslim cultures.
Film Website
http://danielpatrickmoynihan.com/
Hollywood Reporter Review
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/moynihan-1149047
LA Times Review
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-moynihan-review-20181011-story.html
Rotten Tomatoes
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/moynihan
Amazon (both DVD & VOD)
https://www.amazon.com/Moynihan-Daniel-Patrick/dp/B07MWQ9CMB
Trivia
Henry Kissinger is still around (96 in 2019) and is interviewed several times in the film. (So is George F. Will). For a very rare clip of Kissinger interviewed in German (2014), on Youtube, here.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Thoughts on Seeing Caitlyn Doughty Live (September 2019)
Sometime in the last year or two, I've run across several women with eclectic and richly informative YouTube channels and quite engaging video personalities.* Last night I got to see one of them perform live at a book reading in the Old Financial District in downtown LA (DTLA).
Overview
Caitlyn Doughty is a "mortician, author, blogger, and YouTube personality," the YouTube channel being Ask A Mortician, here. Her YouTube channel has 850,000 subscribers. Find her at Wikipedia here and her personal website here. She also co-founded a "death acceptance" organization called Order of the Good Death that runs a website and conferences - see also Wiki here.
Background
Born in 1984, Doughy grew up in Hawaii, where her father was a high school teacher, and went to college at University of Chicago.
After her degree in medieval studies, she migrated to Oakland (like you do) and worked in a low-level job in a crematory while, well, finding herself. She later went to mortuary school and migrated to LA, where she runs (ran) a small funeral service with several partners and specialized in both home funerals and green burials. She recently announced the funeral home Undertaking LA, was closing but may reorganize.
Live On Stage
On September 9, 2019, she did a book reading, book signing, extended Q&A at the funky old Regent Theater (built 1914; now a nightclub) at 4th and Main in the old LA banking district. The reading was sponsored by Skylight Books, one of LA's best independent booksellers, on North Vermont (Vermont and Hollywood Blvd). Caitlyn was a lively and natural on-stage presence, joie-de-vivre instead of joie-de-mort.
Books x 3
Her three books are "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," a coming-of-age memoir, and "From Here to Eternity," subtitled, "Traveling the world to find the good death."
And newly, "Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?" - in the format of Q&A about unusual death situations for, ah, "young readers."** All are available with author-read audiobooks. See a video where she talks about her career path, here.
Further Thoughts
Jessica Mitford
I went to med school and became a pathologist, but my encounters with Death Theory precede and follow.
Long ago, in high school in rural Iowa, our library had a copy of The American Way of Death (1963) by Jessica Mitford, a fascinating book that I couldn't put down as a 16 or 17 year old circa 1975. The book is an expose of the American funeral home industry and its sales methods.
In addition to the morbid curiosity and the business strategy value, it occurred to me this week that the book may have been formative in another way, because it revealed an elaborate web of drivers, levers, and machinations going on behind the surface of something as simple-seeming as a funeral home in a small town. It was a trigger to think about everything (How does this bus system work? Why is it this way?) to which I owe a lot.
Thomas Lynch
Later, in the 2000s, I ran across the essays (and a PBS video) about Michigan mortician and wonderful essayist Thomas Lynch. See his essay books "The Undertaking" and "Bodies in Motion and At Rest" and "Booking Passage" (most circa 1995-2005). I saw him on stage downtown at the LA Public Library in 2005 (paired with Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball) - here. I drew on Lynch's writings as I went through the experience when my mother died in 2011.
Caitlyn Doughty
And that brings up to today, where in the past year or two I've found the works and videos of Caitlyn Doughty both enlightening and meaningful. That, and bike rides now and then through the fabulous Hollywood Forever Cemetery, just a mile from my home, where on the last pass through I ran across both the 93rd annual Valentino Memorial underway (August 26) and the crypt of Mickey Rooney.
___
* Other women with serious/eclectic YouTube channels include Cari with Easy German (460,000 subscribers), an entertaining and education intermediate-German series - here. And Anja, who runs the similar-but-different eponymous Learn German With ANJA! channel - here. 450,000 subscribers.
** For another woman's book on cats and death, see "Waiting For My Cats to Die" by New Yorker Stacy Horn, here. Though not related to cats, another woman writing on the death topic is Mary Roach with "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers."
Overview
Caitlyn Doughty is a "mortician, author, blogger, and YouTube personality," the YouTube channel being Ask A Mortician, here. Her YouTube channel has 850,000 subscribers. Find her at Wikipedia here and her personal website here. She also co-founded a "death acceptance" organization called Order of the Good Death that runs a website and conferences - see also Wiki here.
 |
| click to enlarge |
Born in 1984, Doughy grew up in Hawaii, where her father was a high school teacher, and went to college at University of Chicago.
After her degree in medieval studies, she migrated to Oakland (like you do) and worked in a low-level job in a crematory while, well, finding herself. She later went to mortuary school and migrated to LA, where she runs (ran) a small funeral service with several partners and specialized in both home funerals and green burials. She recently announced the funeral home Undertaking LA, was closing but may reorganize.
Live On Stage
On September 9, 2019, she did a book reading, book signing, extended Q&A at the funky old Regent Theater (built 1914; now a nightclub) at 4th and Main in the old LA banking district. The reading was sponsored by Skylight Books, one of LA's best independent booksellers, on North Vermont (Vermont and Hollywood Blvd). Caitlyn was a lively and natural on-stage presence, joie-de-vivre instead of joie-de-mort.
Books x 3
Her three books are "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," a coming-of-age memoir, and "From Here to Eternity," subtitled, "Traveling the world to find the good death."
And newly, "Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?" - in the format of Q&A about unusual death situations for, ah, "young readers."** All are available with author-read audiobooks. See a video where she talks about her career path, here.
Further Thoughts
Jessica Mitford
I went to med school and became a pathologist, but my encounters with Death Theory precede and follow.
Long ago, in high school in rural Iowa, our library had a copy of The American Way of Death (1963) by Jessica Mitford, a fascinating book that I couldn't put down as a 16 or 17 year old circa 1975. The book is an expose of the American funeral home industry and its sales methods.
In addition to the morbid curiosity and the business strategy value, it occurred to me this week that the book may have been formative in another way, because it revealed an elaborate web of drivers, levers, and machinations going on behind the surface of something as simple-seeming as a funeral home in a small town. It was a trigger to think about everything (How does this bus system work? Why is it this way?) to which I owe a lot.
Thomas Lynch
Later, in the 2000s, I ran across the essays (and a PBS video) about Michigan mortician and wonderful essayist Thomas Lynch. See his essay books "The Undertaking" and "Bodies in Motion and At Rest" and "Booking Passage" (most circa 1995-2005). I saw him on stage downtown at the LA Public Library in 2005 (paired with Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball) - here. I drew on Lynch's writings as I went through the experience when my mother died in 2011.
Caitlyn Doughty
And that brings up to today, where in the past year or two I've found the works and videos of Caitlyn Doughty both enlightening and meaningful. That, and bike rides now and then through the fabulous Hollywood Forever Cemetery, just a mile from my home, where on the last pass through I ran across both the 93rd annual Valentino Memorial underway (August 26) and the crypt of Mickey Rooney.
___
* Other women with serious/eclectic YouTube channels include Cari with Easy German (460,000 subscribers), an entertaining and education intermediate-German series - here. And Anja, who runs the similar-but-different eponymous Learn German With ANJA! channel - here. 450,000 subscribers.
** For another woman's book on cats and death, see "Waiting For My Cats to Die" by New Yorker Stacy Horn, here. Though not related to cats, another woman writing on the death topic is Mary Roach with "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers."
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Three Books from Trump Insiders
While Michael Wolff's two extremely aggressive books about the Trump White House are well known, this summer I breezed through three books by Trump insiders.
Christie frequently and bitterly disagrees with Steve Bannon's descriptions of events (which figure prominently in Michael Wolff books). Christie recounts a statement of Bannon and adds, "That flatly never happened" or similar remarks. Here is the story of the elaborate Transition Planning work - "two dozen three ring binders" - that were tossed the day after the election. Instead, seemingly random interviewers were summoned at odd intervals to Trump's New Jersey estate.
Christie would have taken Chief of Staff in the new White House; DOJ was locked down by Jeff Sessions who long before had endorsed Trump in the first hours when it became possible. However, he felt railroaded out by Kushner and Bannon. This was a second slam-down, the first having being the transition plan.
There is an interesting story that Christie was dangled, and would have taken, head of the Republic National Committee, but this proved to be another bait and switch that really p--d him off and he couldn't take that gang any more.
He talks about his early strong interest in opioid treatment programs, and that he was trying to wrangle $300M out of New Jersey health plans (Horizon BCBS) for this in 2017, leading to a budget shutdown and the infamous picture of him on the empty beach.
Christie is quite proud of his rule as chairman of an Opioid Policy commission that produced an elaborate roadmap report in November 2017.
See Christie on Bill Maher, February 2019, here.
___
The Scaramucci book was entertaining; I listened to most of it as an audiobook. He had written several books before this one and he has had an interesting career up to his current age 55. Scaramucci was a working-class Long Island kid who worked himself up to Harvard Law and Goldman Sachs and later started his own hedge fund. He says he reads 60 books a year (1800 in 30 years.) Tidbit: he likes audiobooks himself.
Scaramucci's book is clearly an update of his prior "Hopping Over the Rabbitt Hole," which describes his business career and learnings up to 2016. Publication date October, 2016. His "Trump" book from late 2018 reprises (simply copies) large swaths of his prior autobiography while appending several chapters on the 2016 campaign and the August 2017 White House adventure.
Both Christie and Scaramucci detest Bannon. For more on Bannon, see the recent documentary The Brink (here, here).
The Soriol book was a little too hagiographic to be sustaining, but an easy skim-through. Or pass on the book, and invest an hour in the podcast/interview at CSPAN BookTV "After Words" from June 2019 (online here).
Soriol's book is the only one that prominently lists a co-author on its cover; Christie's book lists a co-author in fine print.
All three books available as audiobooks; Christie and Scaramucci narrate themselves.
___
The Michael Wolff books are #1, Fire and Fury (January 2018), and #2, Siege:Trump Under Fire (June 2019).
- George Sorial, a Trump organization lawyer and executive, produced "The Real Deal: My Decade Fighting Battles and Winning Wars with Trump" in June 2019.
- Anthony Scaramucci, a Harvard Law grad and Wall Street executive who was Communications Director briefly in August 2017. Produced "Trump: The Blue Collar President" in October 2018.
- Chris Christie produced "Let Me Finish" in January 2019.
Christie frequently and bitterly disagrees with Steve Bannon's descriptions of events (which figure prominently in Michael Wolff books). Christie recounts a statement of Bannon and adds, "That flatly never happened" or similar remarks. Here is the story of the elaborate Transition Planning work - "two dozen three ring binders" - that were tossed the day after the election. Instead, seemingly random interviewers were summoned at odd intervals to Trump's New Jersey estate.
Christie would have taken Chief of Staff in the new White House; DOJ was locked down by Jeff Sessions who long before had endorsed Trump in the first hours when it became possible. However, he felt railroaded out by Kushner and Bannon. This was a second slam-down, the first having being the transition plan.
There is an interesting story that Christie was dangled, and would have taken, head of the Republic National Committee, but this proved to be another bait and switch that really p--d him off and he couldn't take that gang any more.
He talks about his early strong interest in opioid treatment programs, and that he was trying to wrangle $300M out of New Jersey health plans (Horizon BCBS) for this in 2017, leading to a budget shutdown and the infamous picture of him on the empty beach.
Christie is quite proud of his rule as chairman of an Opioid Policy commission that produced an elaborate roadmap report in November 2017.
See Christie on Bill Maher, February 2019, here.
___
The Scaramucci book was entertaining; I listened to most of it as an audiobook. He had written several books before this one and he has had an interesting career up to his current age 55. Scaramucci was a working-class Long Island kid who worked himself up to Harvard Law and Goldman Sachs and later started his own hedge fund. He says he reads 60 books a year (1800 in 30 years.) Tidbit: he likes audiobooks himself.
Scaramucci's book is clearly an update of his prior "Hopping Over the Rabbitt Hole," which describes his business career and learnings up to 2016. Publication date October, 2016. His "Trump" book from late 2018 reprises (simply copies) large swaths of his prior autobiography while appending several chapters on the 2016 campaign and the August 2017 White House adventure.
Both Christie and Scaramucci detest Bannon. For more on Bannon, see the recent documentary The Brink (here, here).
The Soriol book was a little too hagiographic to be sustaining, but an easy skim-through. Or pass on the book, and invest an hour in the podcast/interview at CSPAN BookTV "After Words" from June 2019 (online here).
Soriol's book is the only one that prominently lists a co-author on its cover; Christie's book lists a co-author in fine print.
All three books available as audiobooks; Christie and Scaramucci narrate themselves.
___
The Michael Wolff books are #1, Fire and Fury (January 2018), and #2, Siege:Trump Under Fire (June 2019).
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
CMS/HHS References to President Trump's Leadership
Recently, I ran across a number of HHS/CMS press releases or quotations specifically praising President Trump's vision and leadership, and I wondered how this compared to the Obama era.
Similarly, in a recent speech to the National Kidney Foundation, Secr. Azar remarked, "President Trump has the kind of ambition we need to deliver much better [health] care for Americans, even if it means bold change."
Similarly, in an August 2019 press released regarding a National Coverage Determination on CAR-T therapy, "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Azar, finalized the decision to cover FDA-approved Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell, or “CAR T-cell” therapy, which is a form of cancer treatment..." (Here; my regular business blog on this news, here.)
Once in a while this may be OK, but if it ever becomes mandatory in each press release, it would be a little eerie (sort of like, "Thanks to Comrade Stalin's leadership, the wheat crop has increased by 2%.")
The August 2, 2019 Press Release re: Inpatient Final Rulemaking
For years, CMS has released an inpatient final rule every August. The press release with the August 2019 edition is titled, "Trump Administration Finalizes Policies to Advance Rural Health and Medical Innovation."
The opening sentence begins, "Today, under the leadership of President Trump, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized policy changes to spur competition and innovation..." The second paragraph begins, "“The Trump Administration is providing relief to rural communities and addressing payment policies that have disadvantaged rural hospitals, making it harder for them to stay open and provide care to the one in five Americans living in rural areas,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma."
Continuing, "President Trump is strengthening Medicare by clearing the way for Medicare beneficiaries to access the same transformative technologies and treatment options emerging in the private market,” [added] Administrator Verma. That's four citations to "Trump" in just one routine CMS press release, including the title.
Searching CMS.gov
I used the built-in search function on the CMS website to search for citations to Trump, and there were 101 (that's 40 per year). Searching for Obama, there are 270 (that's 33 per year). But wait. Large numbers of the Trump citations are from public comments on rulemaking where "trump" is used as a verb (rule A trumps rule B), so at least with this simple quantitative measure, Trump occurs less at HHS than Obama, although the Trump citations are sometimes more bold and colorful and memorable, as in the Verma quote above.
Among three Federal proposed rules released this week (for OPPS, PFS, and ESRD/DME), only the PFS rule contains the word Trump, and only once:
"President Donald Trump" vs "President Trump"
The Federal Register stylebook isn't consistent on this topic. Official publications variably name his on first mention as either "President Trump" or as "President Donald Trump." For example, in contrast to the full-name quote above, "President Trump" without first name occurs (but twice) in e.g. "Nondiscrimination in Health and Health Education Programs," May 2019 (4153-01-P).
CMS Press Release Practices Vary
Whereas an NCD press release (CAR-T NCD) from CMS in August 2019 referred to the impact of both President Trump and Secretary's Azar's leadership, a nearly-contemporary CMS press release about an NCD for acupuncture referred to neither man (here). Thus, the CMS press room stylebook allows flexibility.
See for example:
“Hospitals would be required to post all their payer-specific negotiated rates, which are the prices actually paid by insurers,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said on a conference call with reporters. “Hospital pricing has been a mystery, but thanks to the leadership of President Trump, those days are over.”At: MedCityNews, July 29, 2019, here.
Similarly, in a recent speech to the National Kidney Foundation, Secr. Azar remarked, "President Trump has the kind of ambition we need to deliver much better [health] care for Americans, even if it means bold change."
Similarly, in an August 2019 press released regarding a National Coverage Determination on CAR-T therapy, "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Azar, finalized the decision to cover FDA-approved Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell, or “CAR T-cell” therapy, which is a form of cancer treatment..." (Here; my regular business blog on this news, here.)
Once in a while this may be OK, but if it ever becomes mandatory in each press release, it would be a little eerie (sort of like, "Thanks to Comrade Stalin's leadership, the wheat crop has increased by 2%.")
The August 2, 2019 Press Release re: Inpatient Final Rulemaking
For years, CMS has released an inpatient final rule every August. The press release with the August 2019 edition is titled, "Trump Administration Finalizes Policies to Advance Rural Health and Medical Innovation."
The opening sentence begins, "Today, under the leadership of President Trump, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized policy changes to spur competition and innovation..." The second paragraph begins, "“The Trump Administration is providing relief to rural communities and addressing payment policies that have disadvantaged rural hospitals, making it harder for them to stay open and provide care to the one in five Americans living in rural areas,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma."
Continuing, "President Trump is strengthening Medicare by clearing the way for Medicare beneficiaries to access the same transformative technologies and treatment options emerging in the private market,” [added] Administrator Verma. That's four citations to "Trump" in just one routine CMS press release, including the title.
Searching CMS.gov
I used the built-in search function on the CMS website to search for citations to Trump, and there were 101 (that's 40 per year). Searching for Obama, there are 270 (that's 33 per year). But wait. Large numbers of the Trump citations are from public comments on rulemaking where "trump" is used as a verb (rule A trumps rule B), so at least with this simple quantitative measure, Trump occurs less at HHS than Obama, although the Trump citations are sometimes more bold and colorful and memorable, as in the Verma quote above.
Among three Federal proposed rules released this week (for OPPS, PFS, and ESRD/DME), only the PFS rule contains the word Trump, and only once:
On October 26, 2017, Acting Health and Human Services Secretary, Eric D. Hargan declared a nationwide public health emergency on the opioid crisis as requested by President Donald Trump. This public health emergency was renewed by Secretary Alex M. Azar II on January 24, 2018, April 24, 2018, July 23, 2018, and October 21, 2018, January 17, 2019 and most recently, on April 19, 2019.A few quirks here. This implies that President Trump himself can't declare a public health emergency (rather he requests that this be done by Secr. Hargan), and once a public health emergency is declared, it seems to have to be "renewed" at odd intervals every few months.
"President Donald Trump" vs "President Trump"
The Federal Register stylebook isn't consistent on this topic. Official publications variably name his on first mention as either "President Trump" or as "President Donald Trump." For example, in contrast to the full-name quote above, "President Trump" without first name occurs (but twice) in e.g. "Nondiscrimination in Health and Health Education Programs," May 2019 (4153-01-P).
CMS Press Release Practices Vary
Whereas an NCD press release (CAR-T NCD) from CMS in August 2019 referred to the impact of both President Trump and Secretary's Azar's leadership, a nearly-contemporary CMS press release about an NCD for acupuncture referred to neither man (here). Thus, the CMS press room stylebook allows flexibility.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Tweetworld and Memory of a Flea
There is the famous question, "Did you stop beating your wife?" which is bad whether answered yes or no. The Trump tweet here was like that: You should go back to your country, if you hate it here and would be happier in your country. That has a logical scaffold like saying, If you don't like tomato soup, don't order tomato soup. Except it rings the bell of, Go Back To Your Country louder than anything else.
We should disallow the politics and rhetoric of free-wheeling opposite logic. DJT loudly decried the failing American system when running for President as a True Patriot- but he wasn't sent back to Scotland or Germany. When someone else running for president critiques the status quo, now the new rule is, it's unpatriotic. (And it's infinite: When Obama plays golf, it's horrible; when DJT plays golf, it's wonderful).
It's this underlying flip flop of logic and frame that is supposed to be revolting to listeners, whether in 1719 or 2019, but in a Tweetworld, it isn't.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/politics/trump-tweet-house-vote.html
We should disallow the politics and rhetoric of free-wheeling opposite logic. DJT loudly decried the failing American system when running for President as a True Patriot- but he wasn't sent back to Scotland or Germany. When someone else running for president critiques the status quo, now the new rule is, it's unpatriotic. (And it's infinite: When Obama plays golf, it's horrible; when DJT plays golf, it's wonderful).
It's this underlying flip flop of logic and frame that is supposed to be revolting to listeners, whether in 1719 or 2019, but in a Tweetworld, it isn't.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/politics/trump-tweet-house-vote.html
Monday, June 3, 2019
German Pop Culture: Marie Gruber, from East Germany to Babylon Berlin
German actress Marie Gruber died in February 2018 of lung cancer after a short illness. Here, here.
The 62-year old character actress had just finished a fine supporting character actor role as the depressive wife of devilish Police Commissioner Bruno Wolter in the 16-part series Babylon Berlin (Netflix).
American audiences might recognize her from a brief cameo role as the beleaguered next-door neighbor in Lives of Others. However, she had an extensive resume' including television series - here.
I gather from obits that she came to fame for her role in a 1991 situation comedy GO TRABI GO, in which a family of newly-released East Germans bravely take their rickety Trabant on a trip across the fallen Iron Curtain to Italy.
It's sounds like the communist bloc version of Chevy Chase's earlier European Vacation (1985) which itself had echoes of Jackie Gleason's 1969 Don't Drink the Water. GTG pays homage to Goethe's "Italian Journey" (published 1816; from a trip 1786; here.) They carry around an old copy of Italian Journey the whole trip.
I've seen both Babylon Berlin and Lives of Others several times. Much excitement when today's mail brought a used DVD copy of GO TRABI GO (German; no subtitles; via Amazon) to watch on a future airplane trip.
My fan blog on Babylon Berlin, here.
___
A few other actor notes.
Actor Peter Kurth, who played Commissioner Wolter in Babylon Berlin (2017; photo above with Marie Gruber) played a small role in Goodbye Lenin also (2004), as the manager at a satellite TV company XTV ["Chef"]. Goodbye Lenin was a hit, with budget $6M and gross $80M. For an academic article on Ostalgie, here.
Coffee in Berlin had iconic character actor, elderly Michael Gwisdek, who appears as a washed-up grumpy old drunk in Coffee in Berlin (2014) [as Friedrich], reprising his role in Goodbye Lenin (2004) [as Klapprath].
The 62-year old character actress had just finished a fine supporting character actor role as the depressive wife of devilish Police Commissioner Bruno Wolter in the 16-part series Babylon Berlin (Netflix).
American audiences might recognize her from a brief cameo role as the beleaguered next-door neighbor in Lives of Others. However, she had an extensive resume' including television series - here.
I gather from obits that she came to fame for her role in a 1991 situation comedy GO TRABI GO, in which a family of newly-released East Germans bravely take their rickety Trabant on a trip across the fallen Iron Curtain to Italy.
It's sounds like the communist bloc version of Chevy Chase's earlier European Vacation (1985) which itself had echoes of Jackie Gleason's 1969 Don't Drink the Water. GTG pays homage to Goethe's "Italian Journey" (published 1816; from a trip 1786; here.) They carry around an old copy of Italian Journey the whole trip.
I've seen both Babylon Berlin and Lives of Others several times. Much excitement when today's mail brought a used DVD copy of GO TRABI GO (German; no subtitles; via Amazon) to watch on a future airplane trip.
 |
| Go Trabi Go |
 |
| Lives of Others |
 |
| Babylon Berlin |
___
A few other actor notes.
Actor Peter Kurth, who played Commissioner Wolter in Babylon Berlin (2017; photo above with Marie Gruber) played a small role in Goodbye Lenin also (2004), as the manager at a satellite TV company XTV ["Chef"]. Goodbye Lenin was a hit, with budget $6M and gross $80M. For an academic article on Ostalgie, here.
Coffee in Berlin had iconic character actor, elderly Michael Gwisdek, who appears as a washed-up grumpy old drunk in Coffee in Berlin (2014) [as Friedrich], reprising his role in Goodbye Lenin (2004) [as Klapprath].
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