Well, Here I Am Again

Yes, here I am again, not having blogged in a while. Well well, and during that time Iran’s been exploding, Michael Jackson, Farah Fawcett, and Billy Mays have died, and the world has gone on. What have you been up to.

Em Jay

I was a bit more upset at the news of Michael Jackson’s death than I thought I would be, but I think all mourning especially of that sort is somewhat narcissistic. It’s not about him, as much as my memories that are connected to various songs and videos he made. I used to ‘hang out’ at a place called the King’s Club in Stuttgart (Germany)

and they’d play “Beat It” and “Billy Jean” all the time. They’d also play “It’s Raining Men” for obvious reasons. We’d go, my friends Cathy and Joanny and I, to the club nearly every weekend. I’d normally park my big old Volvo wagon wherever I could find a place in downtown Stuttgart, and turn up at the club around, oh, say nine or ten. By eleven, the place would be full. The Americans (mostly servicemen and -women) would normally sit way in the back, but there’d be a crowd of them most weekends. For some reason, when the Stuttgart Military Women’s Softball Team was playing at posts away from town, there were a lot fewer women, and even a few less American guys as well.

There was a dance floor and a disco ball and a DJ who sometimes, if you bought him a drink, play a request. Everything was covered in red as you can see in the thumbnails, and it was run by a red-head Volksdeutsche from Romania by the name of Laura Halding-Hoppert. (Click on a thumbnail below; on the second picture, the seats at the rear to the left are where my friends and I would normally sit, so we could keep an eye on the dance floor and the Wild West where the service men would hang out.)

We’d normally dance very European style, in groups, but every now and then I’d ‘snag’ some hot Soldier to dance with. Even then I was appearance obsessed; I’d make darn sure that all my friends could see me with him, and many times I’d be more interested in their reaction than in the guy’s! But honestly there was little better than hanging on to the back of a sweaty stranger, with one of his legs between mine, bumping and grinding to “Le Freak” (c’est Chic), feeling at once sexy and protected (I was only 18, most of these gents were in their twenties and hence older and wiser and stronger than me) and special. Anyone interested in any of my other reminiscences or am I just coming across as an old geezer with nothing to look forward to, clinging on to his memories of past glories to make up for his current life? I don’t think I’m quite that, or if I am, then I don’t see what’s under my nose. I never went to those places to have fun without the ultimate goal in mind of having somebody to love and who’d love me. Which I have. Yes, I was more wild then but less content.

I’m trying to age gracefully. Or at least without thinking about it too much.

Movies You Should Watch

Well, the first one is called “Beaten.”

No, it’s not the story of an egg. It’s about a married with child couple who are living with domestic violence. The victim is not who you’d think it would be. It’s good because it stars the gorgeous Geordie himself, Robson Green, and because it manages to have three intertwined stories develop, come to a crisis, and get all packaged up within 58 minutes. So you have the rest of the evening free to think how you’d treat Mr. Green.

Those with good memories will remember Mr. Green from “Touching Evil” or “The Grifters” on PBS or BBC America.

The second one is much longer and more harrowing. It’s called “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days” and it’s about a woman trying to help her friend arrange an abortion in Ceausecu’s Romania. No light entertainment in this film, no staring at handsome male leads, at all. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the advice not to drop the fetus into the sink “either whole or in pieces” or a bin near the hotel where the act was done, but to take it to the top of a ten-story apartment building and drop it into the garbage chute. Or that the abortionist took his payment in the form of intercourse with both the friend, and the woman on who he was about to perform the abortion.

That sort of thing makes for an emotionally exhausting film but the whole thing is so fantastically acted and filmed that you don’t mind for yourself, but you do mind for what the characters are going through. There are some strengths in people (this is apparently a true story) that may be better undiscovered.

Back to Our Theme, Already in Progress

Yes, the Handsome Hunks of Home Improvement continue and our newest HHofHI is the dark hammer swinger himself, Carter Oosterhouse. Honestly, do I need to say any more?

(Just click on the smaller thumbnails to see his nearly always ‘on’ smile or his skill at handling his tool.)

Speaking of Handy Men

Well, he did first appear as a handy man, our mini-obsession with Gilmar Rodrigues continues as well. Here is a few pictures of him apparently unable to arrange his boxer shorts – perhaps the elastic’s gone?

(Looks like he needs a tug – why not give him a helping hand?)