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Catch the Devil

  James Dailey had a rough time in Vietnam, came home, watched his life unravel. He was like the speaker in Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA." Struggling with addiction, he lost his family. He began hanging out with unsavory characters. One of those characters--Pearcy--took a 14-year-old girl out for a drive. He tried to rape her, but he was impotent. In a moment of confusion, he believed that the kid was starting to laugh at him. In a frenzy, he stabbed her over thirty times and left her corpse in a puddle. To confuse the police, Pearcy claimed that he was with James Dailey on "the night in question." This was false. But the story gained momentum. The DA recruited a group of jailhouse snitches. Various secret promises were authored.  Testify against Dailey, and we'll offer perks. Dailey has thus spent decades in jail. At one point, Ron DeSantis declared his intention to execute Dailey. The murderer himself declared that Dailey was innocent. All but one ...
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Maddie's Secret

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZvsjbF785g&pp=ygUTbWFkZGllIHRyYWlsZXIgMjAyNg%3D%3D&ra=m I thought "Maddie's Secret" was mind-blowing. It never *works* to make you laugh. The writer/director never seems to break a sweat. Instead, the movie is a singular vision. It's like you're handed "alien goggles." And you see the world in a new way. We begin with Maddie skipping down the streets of L.A., occasionally sniffing jasmine. She is like Maria von Trapp. The world is wonderful! But she needs to make more money if she wants to start a family. So her partner pressures her to share one of her cooking videos with the world. Fame arrives--and its impact is pernicious. Maddie immediately faces criticism because of her weight. She had a traumatic childhood, in which her mother blamed her for family difficulties. (Her mother would often assist with purging sessions--Mom would hold the ponytail so strands of hair didn't dip themselves in the toilet water.) ...
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Shoshana Bean

  My main reason for seeing "The Lost Boys" was Shoshana Bean. And I had a great time. It's a bad musical. In a way, that doesn't matter. People are up there taking big swings--it's difficult not to feel excited. Shoshana Bean invented her own career. After "Wicked," she did not wait for others to invite her to a recording studio; she figured out how to make her own pop album, and she did the work. It's strange how pop stardom is denied to some and not to others. Bean has the head voice, the belt, and the riffing capabilities of a new Whitney Houston. But--also--who cares? If the pop world doesn't want Shoshana Bean, then Broadway *does* want her. My favorite Bean song is "No One," by Alicia Keys. It is reimagined as a mother/child duet, and it makes me think of my own kids. I know people will search the world To find something like what we have. I know people will try -- try to divide Something so real -- So, till the end of time, I...
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My Son Josh

  In Amy Bloom's story "Silver Water," a troubled young woman goes with her family to family therapy. The session doesn't flow smoothly . The therapist is icy and judgmental, and the young woman starts picking her nose. "I wonder," says the therapist, "why your daughter is behaving that way." The narrator jumps in. "Maybe because she doesn't like that you're talking about her in the third person." The other day, a paraprofessional handed my son off. "You may want to put that water bottle in boiling water," she said. "For some reason, HE decided to throw it in a trash can. Hope he does better tomorrow." And one part of me wanted to shrug. To say, "HE probably senses that you hate your job, and in turn HE doesn't like you very much. And walking to the trash can was one way to express all of that. Clever guy!" I can feel frustrated that the YMCA lied and claimed to be able to handle a case that was b...
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On Books

  I really dislike my child's school district -- simple communication becomes baroque, certain employees fail to even pretend to listen, and there is an overall impression of "trying to chat with a black hole." When I fight with the school district, I remember the phrase "pearls before swine." To show real emotion is to give these fellow citizens something that they do not deserve. What they deserve is strictly superficial conduct. Nikki Giovanni writes: If i can't do  what i want to do  then my job is to not  do what i don't want to do  It's not the same thing  but it's the b est i can  do If I can't reform a broken system, I can at least promise to myself that I won't betray a sense of neediness. I will save my energy and act like a robot when that is what is called for. If i can't have  what i want . . . then  my job is to want  what i've got  and be satisfied  that at least there  is something more to want In other wor...
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Matt Damon: "The Odyssey"

  "The Odyssey" is the story of Circe, a witch on an island. (In a 1990s version, Circe was Bernadette Peters, but I have to admit that Samantha Morton is better.) Having endured sexual assault, Circe trusts no one. She feigns generosity, then sets a trap. As Odysseus's men eat Circe's stew, Circe casts a spell. She turns the men into pigs. In a great twist, the current "Odyssey" imagines that the transformation involves *physical* labor. Circe sculpts the pigs as if sculpting clay. It's like something from "The Fly." Really appalling. Odysseus pleads with Circe--these men intended no harm, and in fact they did not harm Circe. But Circe does not miss a beat. "They WOULD HAVE harmed me," she says. (And I think everyone in the audience will agree with Circe, not with Odysseus.) Circe refers to a human form as a "disguise"; her guests are pigs, and she has simply removed the disguise. There is a parallel between Circe and Oydss...
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On Garbage

 We live in the wilderness--sometimes, this is cute. It's cute when groundhogs frolic in our backyard. Or bunnies. Or when my daughter tries to talk to the birds. I'm reminded of the woodsy interludes in "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty." The moment when Aurora shares her deepest feelings with a barn owl. Things are less cute when I consider the problem of waste disposal. One of the most horrifying things I've ever seen is a "garbage can invasion" on a Friday night. My spouse and I were returning from a film. One raccoon popped out of the trash can. Then--I swear--I saw ten or twelve more. One after another after another after another. Spilling from the can's bowels. I'm led to think of that moment in "Alien," when an encephalopod "births itself"--the "cost" is one young man, and specifically that man's abdomen. Like many other issues, garbage in my town is an opportunity for virtue signaling. A prefer...
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