Paul's Thing

A friend posted a nasty little joke photo to Facebook.  No, not the one on the left, which is just one of many anti-Michelle Obama images I found on the net.  His showed Lucy and Ricky facing each other with caption balloons above their heads.  Lucy: “The doctor says I can’t have sex for six weeks.”  Ricky: “What does your dentist say?”

There was a time I’d have chuckled at that, but today it repels me.  I thought we had agreed, at least in non-Republican circles, to quit depicting women as nothing more than sperm receptacles, even in jest.

I left a comment, telling my friend I didn’t see much daylight between his joke and rape-based humor of the “lie back and enjoy it” variety.  I know he has a higher opinion of women than that.  His defense?  A woman sent it to him first and he was merely passing it on.  Later, sure as hell, a woman chimed in, saying she didn’t find it offensive at all.

Maybe I’m being an oversensitive PC bluenose and should lighten up.  But then I hear the chairman of the Republican National Committee compare Obama to Captain Schettino (because campaigning for a second term is just like knocking women and children aside to get to the lifeboat), or learn about the latest Photoshopped image of Barack as Rastus and Michelle as Mandy, sent by some Republican state senator to his entire constituent email address list, and I can’t help thinking that Republicans are, in general, the first of the two kinds of people in the world.

Oh, you haven’t heard my Two Kinds of People theory? The first are those who burst out laughing when someone slips on the ice.  The second are those who gasp.

Plenty of educated, liberal, progressive people laugh at hurtful, belittling humor.  If the joke’s outrageous enough and hits you right, you can’t help it.  I’m certainly guilty.  But generally it’s conservatives who are attracted to stereotype-based sexual and racial humor, and can never seem to get enough of it.

John Stuart Mill had it right, way back in 1866:

I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it.

“Jesus lady, help can’t even help us.” — Shea Whigham as Dennis Farrell in Splinter

	Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010, Canada) I didn’t know until just now, looking at the reviews, that this documentary movie was released in 3D. I watched it at home in 2D (albeit high def) and was blown away.  I’m not sure if it’s the cave art itself or the directorial skill of Werner Herzog that makes me feel such a sense of wonder and discovery, but that sense is almost overwhelming. Religious small-brainers want us to believe human history goes back just 6,000 years, but in fact we go way, way back. Herzog shows us recorded history, in the form of realistic cave paintings done by human beings essentially the same as you and me, dating as far back as 32,000 years ago. The paintings in the recently-discovered Chauvet Cave were created over a 5,000 year span, and depict the animals that roamed what is now France: bison, lions, bears, wooly mammoths, and horses … and part of a human female. You simply can’t not be fascinated by the paintings, and the care with which archeologists and anthropologists study and protect them. This is a must-see movie, every bit as exciting as the latest car-chase thriller.
	Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011, USA) It’s typically Hollywood, by which I mean unreal, nothing like life as we live it … yet Crazy, Stupid, Love is such an endearing movie that you ignore all that and let it sweep you away. Great fun. I only wish men and women could be this good when they’re being bad. In Steve Carell’s world (keep in mind that he produced this movie) we’d all be much happier. One sour note, and I feel bad even bringing it up, but this movie will set up teenaged children of divorcing parents for crushing disappointment.
	Crash (2004, USA) I watched Crash again tonight for the first time since it came out on DVD in 2005. My original review: “All the smart people put this movie down, but I thought it was brilliant.” My review now? Still brilliant, but I see now how manipulative it is in leading the audience toward the desired “Okay, I see the error in my ways and promise to quit being so racist” response. Also, it’s hella sad. But still brilliant. I give it four stars today, but when it first came out I gave it five … that’s how much it affected me the first time I saw it.
	The Trip (2010, UK) What initially appears to be a “mockumentary” is so truthful you have to take it seriously … except how can anything this funny be serious? Two British actors, longstanding friends but also to some extent rivals, travel around the stunning countryside of northern England, staying in country hotels and dining at upscale restaurants. Along the way they bond by comparing lives and careers, while entertaining each other with impressions, song, literature, poetry, and philosophy. It’s all done in a straightforward, subtle manner, but I laughed all the way through. The Trip is a road film, a food fest, a travelogue, a bromance, an exploration of midlife angst … wrapped in a comedy. It’s hilarious, fresh, and charming.
	The Help (2011, USA) The book is on my shelf and I will be reading it soon. I hope it has more meat on its bones than the movie, which gives off a made-for-TV vibe. It is also a chick flick, a Barbiefied look at the civil rights battles of the 1960s, told as a costume drama, with all the ladies dressed to the nines! The characters are either all good or all bad: all good when it comes to the black maids and their white woman liberator; all bad when it comes to the other whites of Jackson, Mississippi.  It doesn’t ring true.  Not only that, it seemed to me that The Help puts blacks and whites right back into the same stereotyped roles I hoped we’d grown out of. I enjoyed parts of the movie, but overall it was too fluffy to pass muster as a serious effort.
	Midnight in Paris (2011, Spain/USA) Another outstanding Woody Allen movie, this one a paean to Paris and the human desire to live in better times. Owen Wilson is Woody Allen, and the best moment to me was when Wilson’s character decides to accept that he really has stepped into the Paris of the 1920s — the look on his face is the look of a man who’s decided to jump and trust the firemen five stories below to catch him. I would be very surprised to learn that the real Hemingway talked the way he wrote, but that’s my one and only quibble. I loved the way Allen expanded on his initial, limited time travel concept, stepping further back into the Belle Epoque (and then, jokingly, back into pre-revolutionary France). And Carla Bruni? She was a pleasant surprise. But Allen is full of surprises, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
	Tabloid (2010, USA) A documentary by Errol Morris (noted for more serious work like The Fog of War), this film recaps the sensationalistic mid-1970s British tabloid exploitation of Joyce McKinney, the “Sex in Chains” lady, an American woman who flew to England to free her boyfriend from the clutches of the Mormons … or maybe to kidnap him against his will. And maybe she had a sordid past and was barking mad besides. I’m a bit ashamed of myself for enjoying this film so much. I needed a shower after watching the two British tabloid reporters recall their fascination with this story, smirking every time they mention sex … they were the very embodiment of the smarmy and prurient tabloid ethos. Sadly, I feel Errol Morris’ documentary exploits poor crazy Joyce McKinney all over again, and he leaves some serious questions unanswered (like, where the hell did McKinney get the money to pull off her insane capers?). But I have to say … Tabloid is a hoot.
	Another Earth (2011, USA) An independent production written by the lead actress and the man who directed the film. I wasn’t sure what I’d get with this box of chocolates … something amateurish and dorky, something polished and professional, something in between? I’m happy to say Another Earth is not only polished and professional, it’s also really really good. You have to be willing to go along with Brit Marling and Mike Cahill’s vision, by which I mean you can’t be a stickler for science fiction consistency. View the second earth as a plot device.  The real story’s about redemption, recovery, and rebuilding … so worrying about whether the looming earth overhead would or would not create killer tides is rather beside the point. My favorite scene? John and Rhoda beginning to come out of their shells while playing with a Wii (you’ll see what I mean if you watch it, which you should). The last scene will make you wonder … but in a good way. I LOVE THIS MOVIE!
	Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993, USA) Manhattan Murder Mystery harkens back to what many would call the young Woody Allen. This film is more of a lark than the later Allen films, the ones that address more serious and adult themes. This one is very much in the spirit of those 1930s films featuring cosmopolitan, smart-talking couples, and probably would have been even more fun if Allen had filmed it in black and white. All the actors here were perfect for their roles, but when the characters of Allen, Keaton, and Alda all start talking at once, critical mass is quickly achieved … fortunately, whenever that happens, Allen (in his role as writer and director) throws in a new development to break things up … and some of the plot developments are both surprising and scary. It’s a fun film; I’m glad I watched it. Ultimately, though, I like the “adult” Allen films more.
	Splinter (2008, USA) During the opening moments, I feared this was going to be a horror film about a rabid porcupine. But it quickly got better, and despite a couple of small inconsistencies, turned out to be a competent little scary movie. Not bad at all, if that’s what you’re in the mood for … and I was.

- See all my reviews

Project Boneyard is now on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum, where I volunteer as a tour guide.  It’s an art project using old aircraft and aircraft parts as canvases.  When I wrote about it last week, the exhibit hadn’t officially opened and just a few outdoor aircraft were on display.

I thought at first the artists were local but have since learned they came from all over, many of them well-known street and contemporary artists.  As long as I’m correcting mistakes in my earlier post, I misidentified one of the art planes as an “old Lockheed”; it is in fact a C-45, made by Beechcraft.

Last week three art planes had been towed into position outside one of the museum hangars.  They have been joined by two more, plus an indoor exhibit of 30 painted nose cones, wing and belly tanks, prop spinners, and radomes.

A few days ago the museum director emailed the staff, warning us that some of the items going on display would be “controversial” and might upset museum visitors and volunteer staff alike.  One piece, we were told, would be set up as a “peep show” with a sign warning of “mature content.”

When the director said peep show, I envisioned an enclosure made of office cubicle panels with literal peep holes drilled in the sides.  I didn’t think they’d just throw a moving pad over the piece:

The director’s undoubtedly right.  This will upset some museum visitors, and maybe even some of our volunteers.  Hell, I was upset … upset I had to move the blanket in order to take this photo.

You’d think that if cow udders are controversial, human lady breasts would be more so, but there was no blanket over this one:

Or this one, which emits a strong anti-capitalist vibe:

As always, I took a lot of photographs.  You can view my Flickr photoset here (I’ll entice you to click on the link by telling you that there are more “controversial” photos to be seen there).  Project Boneyard is a great exhibit, mostly lighthearted and fun to look at, and it’ll be on display at the air museum through the end of May.  See you there?

The Tucson Bike Church Sanctuary is a place where relatives and friends of bicyclists killed on the streets of our town can come to remember them, and even leave notes and mementos.  It’s made, as you can see, of bicycle parts.  Although I didn’t see the panels, I’m told it’s lighted at night by solar energy collected during the day.

Tucson Bike Church Sanctuary

There are a lot of ghost bikes around town, but they’re located at the spots where bicyclists were killed, on busy streets and corners where you wouldn’t want to stop and linger.  The sanctuary sits on a quiet corner in the Barrio Anita near downtown Tucson, on a triangular corner lot that will someday be a nicely landscaped mini-park.  Pima County, perhaps mindful of the bicycling community’s anger after it cancelled an earlier project to build a memorial park and trailhead for bicyclists, gave the sanctuary its support, even providing the city-owned land it sits upon.

That cancelled project?  Two years ago the Brad Fund, a charity founded by the family of Brad Gorman — a bicyclist run over and killed on Catalina Highway — wanted to build a memorial park and bicycle trailhead in our neighborhood.  The project, initially approved by Pima County, was later shot down.  If you’re interested, you can read the post I wrote then, railing at our asshole neighbors and chickenshit politicians.

Before the memorial park was cancelled, the Brad Fund solicited $50 donations from bicyclists and bicycling clubs.  For your $50, you’d get a paving stone with you or your club’s name engraved on it, to be installed at the memorial.  Our little Saturday morning riding group, the Old Spanish Trail Trash, donated to the fund.

About a year after the memorial park was shot down, the Brad Fund announced it was throwing in with the groups building the sanctuary, telling us our paving stones would be installed there instead.

I was out doing errands today, so I rode by and photographed the sanctuary.  I wanted to take a photo of our engraved paving stone, but none have been installed yet … perhaps they’re waiting until the landscaping is done.  Now that I know where the sanctuary is, I’ll drop by from time to time.  I think it’s a lovely idea, and I hope Tucson’s bicycling community supports it.

You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring news about banned and challenged books.

My local school district in Tucson, Arizona is at the center of a growing national and international scandal over the racially-motivated confiscation and banning of textbooks, novels, and plays.  I wrote about the district’s actions here and here.  To reach a wider audience, I also wrote about it on Daily Kos.  I don’t know what more can be said at this point … school district officials are in the early stages of a hunt for other “unapproved” books and additional bannings are likely.  I’ll continue to post about the situation as it unfolds.

Pending further developments in Tucson, I’ll just say this: I think these book bannings are part of a trend I’ve tried to spotlight in previous You Can’t Read That! posts: efforts by political and religious groups to organize and coordinate book bannings and challenges on a national scale.

And now, in other book banning news:

“When government officials ban the objective study of all religious texts, including the most important literary works of all time, such as the Bible, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Odyssey, it only contributes to the further dumbing down of public school education.”

Idaho forbids teachers from assigning any book deemed religious.

“Boo! Poo, Ban Onan in the Loo.”

You have to admit, that’s a great headline!

“Librarians have the authority … to tap patrons on the shoulder when they are viewing such content and tell them to take the material down, or to leave the library altogether if they persist in bringing up obscene imagery.”

Libraries walk a tightrope on porn.

“I read it cover to cover. I was appalled. This book does nothing to elevate students. It implies that everyone speaks and acts that way.”

Another parental book challenge, this time in Maine. And at least this time, a win for the good guys.

“… I can still succeed in getting “Fish is Fish” banned in Marathon County.”

Really?  Your kid is exposed to an idea you don’t approve of, and your first thought is to ban the idea?

“I was angry. I was enraged,” said Vincent. “She knows about a boy and a girl, she knows about sex. But she doesn’t know the details of masturbation.”

Sure, Vincent, if that’s what you want to believe.  If we ban The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian from every school in the country, the curse of Onan will be lifted from the nation’s children.

“Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ is simplistic pornography, say two Michigan parents who don’t appear to be very smart.”

Another brilliant headline.  The accompanying New York Daily News story on book banning attempts is pretty good too, and full of righteous snark.

“Students at the Plymouth-Canton Schools in Michigan got a crash course in politics this week.”

The crash course was over the previous entry, where parents tried to get Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved banned from a Michigan school.  Let’s hear it for the students, the more enlightened parents, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Library Association, and ultimately the school board, who together fought back the challenge and kept Beloved on the AP English reading list.

What, another gearhead post?  Sure, why the hell not?

Every January the Santa Cruz Valley Car Nuts put on a car show at the golf course in Tubac, Arizona.  Classics, collector cars, muscle cars, sports cars, trucks, exotics … it’s a nice show, and I found it much easier to take in than the enormous Barrett-Jackson auction I went to earlier this month.

I rode down on my motorcycle with a riding buddy and two more friends who took their car.  It’s too bad they didn’t ride — Doug and I were able to park on the fairway grass right next to the last row of show cars.  As soon as we put our kickstands down, people were asking us questions about our bikes, and it occurred to me the reason they let motorcycles park there is to add to the show.

But whatever their reason, it was a cool place to park, and we didn’t have to walk five feet to be in amongst the cars on display.  It was a gorgeous morning, and the best use for a golf course I can think of.

I took lots more photos, of course: my Flickr photoset is here.

p.s. I really should add a “gearhead” category, shouldn’t I?  Maybe I will.

That would be “wrenching” as in “motorcycle maintenance.”  I found oil under my motorcycle the other day.  With older bikes (and non-Japanese bikes in general), oil on the garage floor is pretty much standard … but it’s not something you want to see underneath a Honda Goldwing.

There wasn’t any doubt in my mind it was final drive oil.  My motorcycle has a shaft drive and a sort of half-differential in the rear hub called the final drive.  The only other source of liquid in the rear wheel area is the brake, and the stuff on my garage floor definitely wasn’t brake fluid.  I called my friend Ed and described what I’d found.  He and I agreed it was probably the final drive.

Don’t get me started on trikes and trike riders, but I’m thankful for them today.  When Goldwing owners with more money than brains turn their beautiful motorcycles into ugly, unmaneuverable, make-them-look-like-disabled-feebs three wheelers, they wind up throwing away the original rear end parts.  A new rear end from Honda would probably price out at around $3000.  You can pick them up on eBay for less than $200, because that’s where the trike conversion companies try to dump them.  My friend Ed, wouldn’t you know, once bought a whole rear end just to get the new tire that was on it.  So when Ed said, “Why don’t you come over Thursday and we’ll swap out your final drive unit,” I said “Sure!”

Good thing Ed had a complete rear end, because it turned out I needed to replace the rear brake rotor as well.  Four hours’ work and I’m as good as new.

Photos?  Ayup:

While we were at it we replaced the rear brake pads.  Everything seems to be back to normal and I should be good to go for my Saturday ride to the Tubac Car Show … obviously I’ll be on red alert for unusual noises or vibrations, and you can bet I’ll be keeping an eye on the garage floor.  Thank you, trike fools (you are NOT motorcyclists), and thank you, good friend and motorcycle guru Ed.

The aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan AFB turned local artists loose on some old aircraft.  The results are soon to go on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum.  I watched them tow a few out into the yard this week and took some photos:

There are more to come, and the exhibit, called The Boneyard Project, will last from January 28th to May 31st.  Check out the manga cartoon panel on that old Lockheed.  Too cool.