Quotes for Today

Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

Have a new Quotes for Today up on my Substack. As I've mentioned doing this as a way to thank those who have Subscribed. If you are a Subscriber - you would have received an email. Thanks!

Politics Explained

"To the best of my knowledge he had never even voted, and then someone must have told him something about politics, some convincing lie, or he read something - it's usually one or the other - and he stopped being funny and turned mean and silent. That wasn't so bad, but then he stopped being silent." - Charles Portis The Dog of the South

Politics

"To the best of my knowledge he had never even voted, and then someone must have told him something about politics, some convincing lie, or he read something - it's usually one or the other - and he stopped being funny and turned mean and silent. That wasn't so bad, but then he stopped being silent." - Charles Portis The Dog of the South

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Not for nothing but here's a semi-regular reminder that Al Gore is 7-years younger than both Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg and 6-years younger than Joe Biden. And if the Democrats continue to make climate change a top issue then Gore has better credentials then anyone currently running... Author Charles Portis best known for his novel True Grit has passed away. I added his book The Dog of the South to my Amazon wish list based solely on this remembrance of Portis. True Grit is a vastly underrated book... .. Did not watch the Democratic Debate last night in Las Vegas but this morning I awoke with a sadness of wishing Charles Krauthammer were still alive to critique it in writing... A reminder that President Obama signed 1,927 Presidential pardons/commutations while President Trump has just signed 26. So let's take a step back from any faux outrage... Tremendous Angst would be a good name for a grundge era cover band... "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." - Confucius...

True Grit

I'm an unapologetic fan of John Wayne and when I think of John Wayne the first image I come up with is of him as Rooster Cogburn. I bring this up because the iconic True Grit is being remade with Jeff Bridges in the role of Marshall Reuben J. Cogburn. The remake is being directed by the Coen brothers and co-stars Matt Damon as La Boef. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie so much so that I went out and bought the Charles Portis book.

True Grit by Charles Portis is an enjoyable quick read (less than 200 pages). The original movie was pretty true to the book (except for the ending) but it was the dry wit Portis employs via Matty Ross as narrator that made the book special. It was that wit that was lost in translation in the original movie that perhaps the Coen brothers can recapture.

Back to John Wayne for a minute. Recently I learned of two movies he turned down that could have really put him over the top as an American icon. First he turned down the lead in the movie The Dirty Dozen. That role went to Lee Marvin and was perhaps the greatest role of Marvin's career. John Wayne turned down The Dirty Dozen to make The Green Berets - the most controversial movie of the Duke's career. Secondly - John Wayne turned down the role of Taggart in Blazing Saddles. That role went to Slim Pickens. It blows my mind to think of John Wayne in that role. The Duke had a healthy sense of humor and I think he would have enjoyed working up a Number 6.