And In Pirates News....

The 2022 major league baseball season begins one week from today, and here has been the biggest news items regarding our Pittsburgh Pirates this spring training.

• They are projected to have an Opening Day payroll of approximately $35 million, which puts them in 29th place among all MLB teams.
• They have no players - zero, none! - signed beyond 2022.
• They have opted to take their best player, Brian Reynolds, to salary arbitration over the measly difference of $650,000.  Yes, 650K is a lot of money to you and me, but it's couch cushion money to Bob Nutting and all other MLB owners.  Look for Reynolds to be dealt at the trade deadline this year or next before he becomes eligible for free agency when the Pirates would then have to pay him real money.
• There were also reports that the team tried to sign Reynolds to a long term extension, but he wouldn't accept it.  Would you were you in his position?
• Some of Mitch Keller's pitches hit 100 MPH on the radar gun, but based on what we have seen from Keller over the last several seasons, does that news actually excite you?

And in the big news out of Bradenton yesterday, the team has indicated that Oneil Cruz will be sent to Triple-A to start the season in Indianapolis. Yeah, I know that Cruz' defensive talents are "unpolished", that he's only played a handful of games above the Double-A level, and that the team doesn't want to hinder his "development."  Cruz has also been hitting the cover off the ball in Spring Training (and, yes, I know that that is not always a good indicator) and he has shown jaw-dropping power this spring, too.  He is also 23 years old, so he's not exactly a baby anymore, either.  He is perhaps the best prospect to come out of the Pirates organization since Andrew McCutchen.

In short, Oneil Cruz would be a player to get excited about and make you want to see in action at PNC Park.  Can't this penny-pinching outfit throw us a damned bone every once in awhile?  Apparently not.  Let's keep him under "contractual control" an extra year so we can wait an extra year to low ball him in arbitration when the time comes.

Baseball Fever - It's hard to catch it if you're a Pirates Fan!

The Oscars 2022

Earlier today, I wrote extensively about the l'affaire  Will Smith at the Academy Awards ceremony (here it is), so let us talk about the Awards themselves and the telecast of the show as well.

First of all, it must be noted that in his Oscar predictions, The Grandstander was perfecto.  Eight for eight.  If you forgot, or don't believe me, you can refresh your memories here.

Now for some random thoughts and comments on the Awards and the show itself....

• First of all, a salute and shout out to the winner of the Big One, this year's Best Picture, CODA.  I couldn't be happier that this movie won that award.  As I said after I saw the movie, "CODA is everything that a movie should be.  It is funny, tender, sad, heartwarming, and ultimately uplifting."   I believe that this is a movie that everyone will watch and re-watch as the years roll on.  Just a wonderful movie.  That should have been the story of the night, not an assault on live television.

The CODA cast

• Almost every year, a highly acclaimed and much nominated movie comes into the Awards and then gets shut out when they start passing out the statues.  Such was almost the case this year with The Power of the Dog.  It led all movies with twelve nominations, but won only one, albeit, a big one:  Jane Campion for Best Director.
• Power of the Dog also inspired perhaps the best joke of the show when co-host Wanda Sykes said that she had watched Power of the Dog three times and was still only halfway through it.
• As for the show, despite all the talk of streamlining the show, it still ran three hours and forty minutes long.  Every year the academy and the television producers say that THIS YEAR it's going to be different, and it never is.
• I'll repeat what I always say, one way to chop about twenty minutes off od the show is to eliminate performances of the five Best Original Song nominees.  They're are all usually pretty unmemorable anyway.
• That said, the best, most refreshing, and most honestly joyful reaction by an award winner was Billie Eilish when she won for Best Original Song.
• Perhaps the most touching moment of the night was the presentation of the Best Picture award by Lady Gaga and Liza Minelli.  Gaga's "I got you" assurance to Minelli was both classy and endearing.

• Speaking of classy, here's a vote for Kenneth Branagh's speech when he accepted the award for Original Screenplay.
• My vote for Best Dress of the Night goes to Lily James. Beautiful without being ostentatious, sexy without being salacious.

Let us close with a salute to the winners of the four Acting Awards, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Ariana DuBois, and Troy Kotsur.

Let's keep going to the movies, everyone, and as much as possible, let's go to real movie theaters when we do so.

 

The Will Smith - Chris Rock Affair

This was to be my post-mortem post on Sunday evening's Oscar Awards and telecast, but unfortunately (to state it mildly), what became the highlowlight of the show has so dominated the public conversation and social media, that it deserves a post all of its own.

I am referring, of course, to Will Smith's shocking assault and on and  the f-bomb cursing out of comedian Chris Rock live on national and international television.  As we all know by now, Rock made a joke of questionable taste involving Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.  Smith, like  a chivalrous knight in shining armor, felt the need to defend his wife's honor, walked on stage, slapped Rock in the face, returned to his seat, and proceeded to to loudly curse out Rock, not once, but twice.

In a world where we have become pretty much immune to almost everything we see on television, this was a pretty shocking display of anger and violence that, had it happened in your neighborhood tavern, would have probably resulted in someone's arrest.  Said act was followed forty minutes later of Smith being awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in "King Richard."  His rambling, tear-filled acceptance speech only added to the surrealness of the occasion.  It contained a half-assed apology to "the Academy" and no apology to Chris Rock.

Reactions have split pretty much into two camps:

• Good for Will Smith.  Someone insulted his wife, and he defended her.
• Brickbats to Will Smith for committing an act of violence that simply cannot be justified, regardless of how dubious his joke may her been.  (And since when has edgy and even insulting humor in Hollywood and among comedians become a shocking thing?)

I fall into the latter camp, and find it hard to believe that people are defending Smith's actions.

This was my comment on Facebook on Sunday evening: "On what should have been the biggest night of his career, Will Smith just might have flushed his career right down the toilet."

Washington DC film critic and podcaster Arch Campbell said "if you ask me, Will Smith undid a lifetime of good will in this one moment."

Then there is this:

"When Will Smith stormed onto the Oscar stage to strike Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife’s short hair, he did a lot more damage than just to Rock’s face. With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the entertainment industry, and perpetuated stereotypes about the Black community."

The author of that quote is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and it is the opening paragraph of this column from his Newsletter.  I strongly urge you to read it.  Abdul-Jabbar is a smart and insightful writer on a variety of topics, and this piece is no exception. (in fact, I just paid fifty bucks for an annual subscription to his newsletter, and I think that it will prove to be a real bargain over the course of the next twelve months.)

This was the closing of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's general columnist Tony Norman's column yesterday:

"I hope Mr. Smith’s five minutes of awkward Oscars glory was worth becoming a human meme. He didn’t “protect” Jada Pinkett Smith’s “honor” — he threw away three decades of good will because he, a Black man of privilege and unimaginable wealth, believed he could assault another wealthy Black man and get away with it.

"Whether he apologizes to Chris Rock or not, his life as the ebony Tom Hanks is pretty much over."

For those Grandstander readers who don't know of him, Tony Norman is Black, and here is his column in its entirety.  Again, I urge you to read it.

For his part, Smith issued an apology to Chris Rock yesterday.  As celebrity apologies go, this one seemed more sincere and heartfelt than most.  To my knowledge, Rock has not issued any statement other than to say that he would not be filing charges against Smith with the LAPD.  I've always liked Will Smith, both as a performer and a person.  I'll leave it to Kareem to summarize:

"I don’t want to see him punished or ostracized because of this one, albeit a big one, mistake. I just want this to be a cautionary tale for others not to romanticize or glorify bad behavior. And I want Smith to be the man who really protects others—by admitting the harm he’s done to others."

"King Richard" and Oscar Predictions

I caught up with one more Best Picture nominee last night, King Richard starring Will Smith, and I will be brief about it.  It is the story of adolescent tennis phenoms Venus and Serena Williams (well before they became the best players in the world and winners of multiple majors), and the role that their father, Richard, played in their development.  It is a good movie, a good sports movie, and a movie well worth seeing, and it features an absolutely terrific performance by Will Smith as Richard Williams.  Smith is the odds on favorite to win the Best Actor Oscar tonight, and it will be a well deserved award, and it will also serve as a Career Achievement Oscar for Smith who has twice before been nominated for Best Actor in his career.

Three Stars from The Grandstander. 

After viewing King Richard, I have now seen seven of the ten Best Picture nominees.  I never did get the chance to see Don't Look Up prior to tonight's presentations, so that one will have to wait.

Of the the seven films that I have seen, I would be happy if any pf the following three wins the Best Picture Oscar:  Belfast, CODA, and West Side Story.  I have maintained all along that West Side Story has been my favorite movie that I have seen, but CODA is one that I could also see myself voting for if I had the privilege.    Three others, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, and Nightmare Alley were all good, and maybe even very good, movies, but none of them, in my opinion, are the Best Picture of the year.

That leaves Power of the Dog.   This is the most nominated film and for the longest time is was considered a shoe in for Best Picture.  I got through 45 minutes of it and gave up.  Here's a story that sums up this movie.  A guy whose opinion I  respect, recently told me that he watched this and couldn't "get it", couldn't figure out "what was going on", but after he watched it, he went to Google to read about it and figure out what the movie was trying to say, and then he "got it."  When intelligent people have to go to the Google Machine to figure out what a movie was about, sorry, but that is not a movie that should be the Best Picture of any year.

Okay, got that off my chest, so now for my predictions.  These are based upon what I have read, what I have been hearing on various movie podcasts, and, oh yeah, what I have actually seen with my own two eyes.

• BEST PICTURE:   CODA *
• BEST ACTOR: Will Smith, King Richard *
• BEST ACTRESS:   Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Troy Kotsur, CODA *
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ariana DuBose, West Side Story*
• BEST DIRECTOR: Jane Campion, Power of the Dog
• ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: CODA*
• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:  Belfast*

* Movies and performances that I have actually seen.  Didn't give an asterisk to Power of the Dog since I only saw about one-third of the movie.

Of the twenty nominated acting performances, I actually only saw seven of them (again, not including three nominated performances from Power of the Dog).

The only Best Actress performance that I saw was Nicole Kidman's portrayal of Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos.  I liked her and liked the movie, so if she ends up winning, I won't be unhappy.

If Ariana DuBose wins for Best Supporting Actress for portraying Anita in West Side Story, she will be the second actress to win the same award for playing the same character.  Rita Moreno won the same award for the same role back in 1961.  Has anything like that ever happened before?

Not a prediction, but I will be rooting hard for Summer of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not be Televised) to win for Best Documentary Feature.  That was a terrific movie.

Enjoy the show everyone, and I will own up to my predictions after the telecast.

Three More Movies

Amidst March Madness, I found some time for a few movies, two current, and one oldie.

Let's start with this Oscar nominated gem.

In a semi-autobiographical film, director Kenneth Branagh tells the story of life in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the height of "The Troubles", the civic unrest (to put it mildly) that existed between Catholics and Protestants, Irish and British.  The movie focuses on one family: two sons, Mom and Dad, and one set of grandparents, with the youngest son, Buddy, being the main focus of the story.

We see the violence and the hatred that took so many lives and completely split a country apart.  At the same time we see one family trying to hold things together amidst unimaginable horrors.  While stores are being bombed and looted, and gangs fight with guns, clubs, and bombs in the streets, Buddy goes to school, plays soccer in the street, develops a schoolboy crush, a grandparent gets sick, bills have to be paid, people go to the movies, dances are held in the neighborhood, and jobs, regular jobs, have to be performed. In short, life goes on amidst unimaginable horrors, and a family, particularly the Mom, has to struggle just to keep going.

Filmed in beautiful black and white, Belfast is nominated for five major Oscars:  Best Picture, Branagh for Director, actor Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench for Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.  It has been three days since I watched this movie and it gets better and better in my mind the more I think about it.

Three and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

After his success with the remake of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express a few years ago, Kenneth Branagh is back directing and starring in another Christie classic, Death on the Nile.  I won't go into the details of the plot, but "Death on the Nile" is considered one of the classics in the Christie Cannon, probably in her Top Ten, and Branagh does a good job in telling the story.  Like Orient Express, this one has the perquisite All-Star Cast including Branagh as Hercule Poirot, Gal Godot, Tom Bateman, Armie Hammer, Emma Mackey, and Annette Bening.  All are good, the scenery is gorgeous, and the plot is most satisfying whodunit.  Christie fans should be pleased.

In this one, Branagh provided a back story for Poirot.  Why do film makers do this?  Back in 2019, Amazon gave us a version of another Christie classic, "The A.B.C. Murders" that gave Poirot a totally ludicrous back story.  Branagh's version was a lot better that THAT one was, but was it really necessary?

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

The death of actress Say Kellerman last month prompted me to seek out this 2006 comedy.  It is a romantic comedy from director Susan Seidelman about love and romance among widowed and divorced seniors living in a retirement community in Florida (think The Villages).  When I first saw this back in 2006, I was only 55 years old, Marilyn and I were still working, but planning on retirement and looking at a long life ahead of us, I was not yet volunteering at the Caring Place, so the idea of "grief" was still a very abstract concept, if I even thought of it all.  Boynton Beach Club was a funny movie, but pretty much just another movie, a RomCom for geezers.

Now, in 2022, the movie takes on a different look to me.  The Caring Place has taught me about the grieving process, and the Grief Journey that many of us will take at some point in our lives.  Marilyn's death last year put me on that journey, and made me well aware of how lonely it can be when a partner of 47 years is no longer with you.  Therapy has taught me that while it's not easy and can be scary, you need not take that journey alone.   Trust me, a first date can be terrifying, when the last "first date" that you had was 49 years ago.

The movie starred Joseph Bologna, Len Cariou, Michael Nouri, Dyan Cannon, Brenda Vaccaro, Sally Kellerman, and Renee Taylor.  All were good in their roles, all were at various times funny, vulnerable, scared, loving, and very, very human.  Sadly, Bologna, Cariou, and Kellerman are all no longer with us.  You will laugh a lot at this movie, but it is most certainly not just a RomCom for old people.  There is much more to it than that.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

To Absent Friends - Sally Kellerman

Sally Kellerman

1937 - 2022

Actress Sally Kellerman died last month at the age of 84.  Her 156 acting credits stretch back to the 1950's and include just about any television series that you can name. from Ozzie and Harriett to Dobie Gillis to Alfred Hitchcock Hour to My Three Sons to Mannix, Hawaii Five-0, and Columbo, and an appearance in the very first season of Star Trek.  You get the idea.

She became famous when she appeared as the by-the-book head nurse Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the 1970 movie M*A*S*H.  She was nominated for an Academy Award, and who could possibly forget the scene where the naughty surgeons of the 4077 collapsed the tent walls when Hot Lips was taking a shower.

Kellerman went on to do other movies, of course, but in addition to M*A*S*H, her obituaries most prominently mention her role as the college professor love interest to Rodney Dangerfield in the 1986 comedy Back To School.

I would like to recommend, however, a 2005 movie called Boynton Beach Club.  Kellerman co-starred with Dyan Cannon, Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Bologna, Len Cariou, and Michael Nouri in this comedy about romance and dating among widows and divorcees living in a seniors community in Florida.  It was a funny and touching comedy when we watched it back in '05, and one that might have some relevance to me at this point in my life, so I  look forward to finding it and watching it again.

Kellerman was suffering from dementia at the time of her death, but her filmography shows that she worked fairly steadily right up through 2017, and isn't steady work all that a working actor really wants?

RIP Sally Kellerman.
 

Steelers and Pirates and Penguins, Oh My!

Time to catch up on the world of Pittsburgh's professional sports teams....

As is usually the case, the Steelers dominate the Pittsburgh sports scene, regardless of what the calendar says, and March 2022 is no different.

The Free Agency signing period officially began today, and the Steelers have jumped in with both feet and with checkbooks open.  The team addressed specific needs by signing a cornerback and two offensive linemen, including a center, but the sexiest signing was, of course, five year veteran quarterback Mitch Trubisky.

In a Facebook post that brilliantly captured the true spirit of Steelers Nation, my pal "Mike in Burke, VA" predicted that this would enrage half of the Steelers fan base while the other half would begin making plans to travel to the Super Bowl next year.

While I expressed a belief in this space a few weeks back that Mason Rudolph deserved to head into training camp at the top of the QB depth chart, he also didn't deserve to be handed the job without competition, and, obviously, the Steelers coaches, who are in a lot better position to know such things that you or I, felt differently.  There will be competition for the starting position at QB, we are told, but by all indications, the job is now Trubisky's to lose.

I think that I am okay with this.  The Number Two overall draft pick five years ago, Trubisky has suffered when compared with two QB's who were taken after him in that draft, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.  Still, he had a winning record as a four year starter with the Chicago, and led the Bears to the playoffs in two of his four seasons.  Reports are that Chicago HC Matt Nagy didn't care for Trubisky, didn't want to draft him, and, subsequently, never properly coached him up.  Perhaps that may be one of the reasons why Nagy is now the ex-HC of the Bears.

Having signed a two year deal, perhaps Trubisky becomes a placeholder for the Next Guy.  The Steelers obviously didn't think that any of the QB's available in this year's draft, including Pitt's Kenny Pickett,  is That Guy and worth giving up what it would take to move up in the draft to obtain.

We shall see come this fall just how long the Mitch Trubisky Era lasts at Rooney U., and for whatever it might be worth, I understand that "Mitchburgh" t-shirts will soon be available at sports clothing stores all across town.  I'll have to get one to go with my Duck Hodges t-shirt.

Also for what it is worth, I can remember Trubisky having some big time performances agains Pitt in his years at North Carolina.  Then again, Mason Rudolph did the same thing to the Panthers when he was at Oklahoma State.

********

The big news in baseball this past week was, of course, the fact that the lockout of players by the MLB owners came to an end when MLB and the MLBPA agreed to terms on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.  Spring Training could now begin and a 162 game season was preserved.  Joy reigned throughout the land!

Of course, there was no joy in Mudville, or Pittsburgh, because the new CBA did bupkis to provide anything for teams like the Pirates that might, just might, spur some form of parity in MLB between the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers et al and the Pirates, Reds, Marlins and teams of that ilk.  No salary cap, no salary floor.  The owners, including noted local tightwad and pinchpenny Bob Nutting voted 30-0 to accept the new agreement, so you have to think that Big Bob is okay with the status quo.  Pirates fans are already setting their alarm clocks for the time when Brian Reynolds and Ke'Bryan Hayes become too expensive for the Buccos and are traded for "prospects."  The beat goes on.

A story by Jason Mackey in Sunday's Post-Gazette took a position-by-position look at the Pirates now that Spring Training can begin, and the only conclusion that one could draw from it is that once again, the Pirates are going to be one God-awful baseball team.  I hope that I'm wrong, and I am glad that there will be baseball games to watch on television, but how much longer will even the most devoted of baseball fans in general and Pirates fans in particular be able to withstand getting the middle finger from MLB and, and this is important, the MBL Players before they say "Enough.  I'm done."

********

Friends and readers know that hockey has never been of all that great interest to me, except when the Penguins are in the Playoffs.  However, Linda is a huge and knowledgable Pens and hockey fan. ("Some people are raised Catholic, some are raised Methodist.  I was raised Penguins.")  So, in sheer self-defense, I have found myself paying much closer attention to the Penguins this year, more so than ever in the non-playoff portion of the season.  I am happy to say that I am enjoying the action more than I expected.  Being able to place small wagers on the games helps maintain interest, as does the fact that the Penguins are pretty good.

Last Friday night, as my birthday gift to Linda, I bought Tim Baker's seats for the Pens-Vegas game, and saw my first shinny game in person since the days of the Civic Arena, at least twelve or thirteen years ago.   This was in fact the first time I had seen a hockey game at the now 12 year old PPG Paints Arena, and I really truly enjoyed it.   The seats were great, and being able to see a game in person and, almost as important, hearing the sounds of the game - skates on ice, pucks on sticks, players on players, and even the sound of a puck to the face - was just a great experience.  

Plus, the Penguins won, and I can now say that the Pens have never lost a game at PPG Paints Arena that I have attended, so, Mario, send me some freebies willya!

One other bonus: after watching games regularly on TV, I can say the in Steve Mears and Bob Errey, the Pens have, hands down, he best team of play-by-play announcers in Pittsburgh.  Admittedly, in a town where Bill Hilgrove announces for three different teams, that is not a particularly high bar to clear.  Still, Mearsie and Errey really make the games enjoyable to watch. 

To Absent Friends - William Hurt

 William Hurt

1950 - 2022

as (L to R)

Ned Racine, "Body Heat"

Nick, "The Big Chill"

Tom Gruner, "Broadcast News"

It came as a shock to me to learn of the death of Oscar winning actor William Hurt yesterday at the the age of 71.

Hurt was an incredibly prolific actor.  He had over 100 acting credits listed in IMDB, and his obituary tells you that he was a significant stage actor as well before making it big in the movies.  He has a rare distinction of being nominated for a Best Actor Oscar three years in a row, 1986, Kiss of the Spider Woman (he won for that one), 1987, Children of a Lesser God, and 1988, Broadcast News, and you can also throw in a Supporting Actor nomination in 2006 as well for A History of Violence.

I last remember seeing him in the 2013 TV mini-series "Bonnie and Clyde" where he played the sheriff who tracked down the infamous outlaws, but he remained prolific in recent years appearing in a handful of  super hero comic book movies.

For all his acclaim, my two favorite Hurt roles were that of Ned Racine, the second rate lawyer duped by Kathleen Turner into murdering her husband in Body Heat (1981), and as the drug dealing Vietnam vet Nick in one of my all-time favorite movies, The Big Chill (1983).  I still quote his line from that movie where Nick states, while watching a cheesy gangster movie on television, "Sometimes you just have to let art flow over you."

RIP William Hurt

Capsule Critiques - Three Oscar Contenders, Plus One

In recent days, I have caught up with several Oscar contenders, and I now offer some Kwickie Kommentaries on each of them, in alphabetical order.

CODA

 

First off CODA is an acronym that stands for Children of Deaf Adults, and this is a movie about just such a family.  Mom, Dad, Older Brother are all deaf, and high school senior daughter Ruby is the only member of the family who can hear.  She serves as an interpreter an voice for all of her family as they struggle and scrape to make a living with their commercial fishing boat in a small New England fishing community.  It is a hard scrabble existence, and Ruby, who has never done well in school, decides that she wants to try out for the school choir.  Her teacher discovers that she is amazingly talented and encourages her to pursue this talent at a music college in Boston.  Her family, of course, has no idea of how talented she is and can't understand why she wants to do this.

CODA is everything that a movie should be.  It is funny, tender, sad, heartwarming, and ultimately uplifting.  Deaf actors Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur play Ruby's parents, and each are nominated for acting Oscars (Lead Actress and Supporting Actor).   Twenty year old Emilia Jones plays Ruby.  She wasn't Oscar nominated, but probably should have been.  She is amazing in this one.

Emilia Jones

Marlee Matlin

Four Stars from The Grandstander.  (Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Lead Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay) 

The French Dispatch

This movie directed by Wes Anderson is not Oscar nominated, but is one that I have long wanted to see, but never got around to in its theatrical release.  It is the story of a fictional New Yorker-style magazine, that is published by a small town Kansas newspaper but written out of a small city in France.   It is about to cease publication when its editor of fifty years, played by Bill Murray, dies.  The movie consists of three separate vignettes of stories published by the magazine.  It has a huge and impressive cast, including Tilda Swinton, Adrian Brody, Frances McDormand, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, and many others.  I wanted to see it because Saoirse Ronan was in it, but her role was small and almost unnoticeable.  It was quirky in the way that many of Anderson's movies are.  It might get better upon subsequent viewings, but I'm not all that motivated to watch it again.  If you do watch, though, be sure to watch the closing credits.  They're terrific.  Seriously.

Two Stars from The Grandstander.  (No Oscar nominations)

Nightmare Alley

This a very stylishly done noir-ish movie from Oscar winning director Guillermo del Toro that tells the story of the shady and sleazy world of carnival acts that takes place in Depression riddled America.  Bradley Cooper plays a drifter who stumbles into employment among the carnies, hooks up with a mind reading act, and learns the tricks of the grift.  A time jump of two years finds Cooper now a successful act in posh nightclubs, still a con man, only now he wears a tuxedo.  

It is the story of his rise and fall, and it features two terrific performances from Cooper and Cate Blanchett.  The movie is also two and one-half hours long, which is too long by at least thirty minutes.  Doesn't anyone make hour and forty minute movies anymore?

Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.  (Oscar nominated for Best Picture)

Summer of Soul...(Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Back in the summer of 1969, the New York City Parks Department sponsored a series of concerts featuring predominantly black singers and musicians.  The concerts took place over several weekends at a public park in Harlem. Tens of thousands of people flocked to each of the  concerts, and all of them were filmed, but he films were never shown, and most people outside of Harlem and New York City weren't even aware that they took place.  Why? One reason might be because at the time another  concert was being staged at a small upstate New York village named Woodstock.

Tonight Show bandleader Questlove has unearthed all of those films and put it together in tis terrific documentary.  Acts such as Steve Wonder, The Fifth Dimension, Gladys Knight, David Ruffin, Hugh Masakela, the Chambers Brothers, Mongo Santamaria, the Edwin Hawkins Singers and many others are seen performing early in their careers and, for many, at the very top of their games.  Questlove also brought back many of the performers to view themselves performing over fifty years later.  Watching Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr tear up as they watched their younger selves on stage was an incredible thing to see.

This movie is an incredible time capsule of a completely unique cultural time in our history

Three and One-half Stars from The Grandstander.  (Oscar nominated for Best Documentary Feature)

*****

I've now seen four of the ten Best picture nominees, and between now and Oscar time in two weeks, I plan on seeing the following nominated films: Belfast, Don't Look Up, and King Richard, and I suppose that I will try to take another crack at watching Power of the Dog, but I'm not all that enthusiastic about doing so.

The Marilyn M. Sproule Memorial Endowed Scholarship

Most people reading this are no doubt aware that Marilyn and I met as students at Robert Morris College (now University) in 1972.  We graduated in 1973, me with a four year Bachelor's Degree, and Marilyn with a two year Associate's Degree.  We then began our working careers and were married in 1974.  It was Marilyn's goal to one day continue her education and get a four year degree.  However, life has a tendency to get in the way of things, and that particular dream of hers was never fulfilled.

In an effort to help other young college students fulfill their dreams, I finalized arrangements this week with Robert Morris University and there now exists at RMU the MARILYN M. SPROULE MEMORIAL ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP. 

The selection criteria for this Scholarship are as follows:

"The scholarship will be awarded to a sophomore, junior, or senior undergraduate student at Robert Morris University with demonstrated financial need. The recipient must be in good academic standing to receive and renew scholarship support."

I am excited beyond words to know that Marilyn's name will live on in perpetuity at our alma mater, and to know that financial awards in her name will help current and future students stay in school and complete their college educations at Robert Morris.

While it is not the intention of this post to solicit contributions for this scholarship - it is fully funded at this point - please know that should you desire to do so, contributions in Marilyn's honor towards this scholarship can be directed to the Development Office at Robert Morris University.  Such a gift should be  specified as being for the Marilyn M. Sproule Memorial Endowed Scholarship.  All such gifts are tax deductible.

A Special Thank You

 

When  Marilyn died last October, I had requested that if so desired, donations could be made in her name to the Highmark Caring Place.  As those of you who know us know, Marilyn and I have served as volunteers there since 2010, and it is an organization that means a lot to us both. 

A few weeks ago, I received a letter from the Caring Place informing me that since October, gifts from fifty-three different donors totaling $4,685 had been received in Marilyn's honor.  What the donors may not have realized is that each gift made to the Caring Place is matched dollar for dollar by Highmark Inc.  Thus, over $9,700 has been raised for this wonderful organization in Marilyn's honor.

All donors will have received an acknowledgement from the Caring Place thanking them for their gift, and I, too would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who were so generous.  The Caring Place is an amazing and wonderful organization.  No one served it better than did Marilyn in her eleven years as a volunteer, and I know that your gifts in her name would mean so much to her, as they do to me.

Thank you, and let me leave you with the words of the Caring Place Pledge:

"I am here for you.  You are here for me. We are here for each other."