When Philip Lacasse, a quadriplegic billionaire, who was paralyzed from the neck down after a reckless paragliding adventure, played by Bryan Cranston employs an ex-convict Dell Scott, played by Kevin Hart as his caregiver, they both start on an unexpected path of friendship and discovery. Bryan Cranston’s chief executive Yvonne Played by Nicole Kidman is on hand to lend solid support.

This is the second buddy film we have seen recently. This wasn’t by design, it just happened.  It is a remake of the French 2011 film “The Intouchables”. The Intouchables was inspired by the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo and Abdel Sellou, originally from Algeria.

Cranston never over exaggerates his disabled character but instead gives us a great grouch. Cranston plays a man who has no control of his body below his neck with a Do Not Resuscitate order. His interactions with the unfiltered Hart creates a rapport between the two of them that quite thankfully works in the film. There are quite a few really enjoyable location shots that include a stoned trip to a hot dog restaurant and a trip to an opera house that creates some pretty good laughs. Even a scene involving catheters, erections and colon hygiene is less cringe worthy than you might expect.

Surprisingly, Kevin Hart held his own in this movie and I hope he will consider doing more movies like this. He showed a good range that I didn’t expect from a comedian. It must have been hard for him to perform in such a reined, utterly likeable performance. The casting alongside Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman was outstanding. It’s an entirely different kind of role for Hart who anchors the movie. This provides the comedian his highest profile, straight role he has had so far.

The only reason his character, Dell applies for the job is to maintain his parole status even though he doesn’t want the job or has any experience for it. All he really wants is a signature that so he can show his parole officer that he applied for a job. Hart handles the material easily, combining enough witty remarks to offset the more dramatic emotional dialogue. Dell and Philip’s mutual experiences grow, as the two share joints, prank the police to get out of a ticket and form a bond over Mozart and Aretha Franklin. Later, when Dell’s hostile ex-girlfriend and son reject his attempt to apologize, he buys them a new house and car that dramatically changes their minds. Nothing like money to make you have an about-face.

This movie defies the general consensus that remakes aren’t as good as the original. When taken on its own merits, and bolstered by a trio of utterly charming lead performances from Hart, Cranston, and Kidman this is a thoroughly delightful movie. This is an undeniably powerful human story at its core. The tale of Phillip and Dell, the black parolee who restores Phillip’s will to live, is surprisingly winning. The plot however is highly predictable. Except for the end.

Most of the movie was shot in Philadelphia and was originally produced by The Weinstein Company. When the studio went bankrupt it forced the film to initially miss it’s scheduled March 2018 release date.

Some of these story lines, such as the one about the art work painted by Dell, are split your side funny. Bryan Cranston’s timing in delivering his punchlines is spot on and as a bonus there are even a few Buffalo references. I would highly recommend this for a cold winter night to enjoy with your family.

10 out of 10 popcorns Continue reading “Reel to Reel: The Upside, 2018.” →

Empty nest syndrome, I never knew when it would hit. That extreme feeling of loneliness when my kids began leaving home to start a life on their own. Everybody had graduated from college, the weddings were over and suddenly we went from “Full House” to “Just the two of us”. Sure my wife and I had each other but gone were the slamming doors, the laughter and the family dinners. I know it was our job to raise our children to be self-sufficient members of society but dammit, why did we have to do such a good job of it?

I would sniffle a bit and wipe away a tear knowing what a good job we had done. The house we called home always seemed so small when we were raising a family. I think we could park airplanes in our living room now, it is so empty.

When I walk by their empty bedrooms, I see beds that are no longer being used. There are no piles of clothes on the floor, there are no shoes under the beds, and there are no toys that haven’t been picked up. Gone is the raucous laughter that used to fill our house to the roof top, gone is the pile of boots by the back door that indicated everyone was home, gone is the back yard full of toys and bikes carelessly strewn about.

I knew the bedrooms would be empty, the house would be quieter, their places at the table unoccupied, but other little daily patterns of life, can simply take you by surprise. We didn’t have to rush them out the door anymore so they wouldn’t be late for school. We didn’t have to help them with their homework. Years of my family eating, sleeping and playing under one roof had been brutally altered and I had no idea how to handle it.

Years after my children left, the grandchildren started arriving. They used to stop over after school until their parents got home from work. They would occasionally come over to Nana’s and Papa’s house for a super sleepover. The living room would look like an emergency shelter with four or more kids sleeping on the floor, in sleeping bags. You had to carry a flash light if you needed to go thru the living room at night so you didn’t step on anyone.

But times have changed and Donna and I have gotten used to being alone. About once a month, our twin seven year old grandsons will have a sleep over though. Other than that our children and grandchildren will stop over for an hour or so just to visit and that’s about it.

This Christmas however we have received the best present ever.  My oldest daughter recently sold her home and had to move out of the place she has lived in for twenty years. She has bought a new home but hasn’t closed on it yet. Because of this she is temporarily between homes. Soooo she is domiciled at our house.

It gets better than that though. Her daughter that is in a pre-professional ballet company in Denver, Colorado will be coming home for a visit. She is a born dancer and it is semisweet to see her pursuing her dream. It is nice she has found what she wants to do in life but I just wish it wouldn’t take her so far away from us. She will also be living at our house. My daughter also has a second daughter that is attending college out of town. She will be living and sleeping with us also.

It is a good thing that about a year ago we added a first floor bedroom suite complete with a walk in closet and a bathroom. We are now officially out of bedrooms. I can’t imagine five adults living together with only one bathroom. We would have to post a bathroom schedule on the door. I can only imagine our old, old water heater straining to keep up with the demand and the sink full of shampoos, conditioners and lotions.

That doesn’t mean we can’t put up more of my family though. We do have 4 recliners in our living room, a walk up attic where the super sleepovers were held in the summer and plenty of floor space.

I know it will be only a few short weeks before this arrangement ends. The granddaughters will be going back to school and my daughter will be moving into her new home. Once again it will be just the two of us, the way we started our lives together. But, for now, it is great to have a house full of laughter once again. I am just going to sit back and enjoy it.

The first amendment of the United States constitution says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Our great country was built upon the ideals of liberty, justice and freedom for people of different outlooks and the ability to communicate their disagreements out in the open. This is the spirit of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech. However, Americans don’t have the luxury of always saying what they please. Your right to free speech is limited by where you are, what you say, and how you say it.

Individuals who post messages anonymously often think they are making valid points. However their posts might contain false statements and might even be classified as bullying or defamation. Online libel is a big risk for those who blog, as it does for any writer in any medium.

Despite many people’s incessant persistence that the freedom of speech permits them to harass others online, the courts and congress have carved out specific types of speech that are excluded from protection. Additionally, states, like California, have criminal laws against harassment, whether in person or done through the internet. The general exclusions include defamation of character or Invasion of privacy, obscenity, copyright or trademark Infringement or inciting a riot.

Also, the government can put “reasonable restrictions” on free speech, like those that limit the time, place, and type of the speech. For example, forbidding demonstrators from chanting loudly before 6:00 A.M. in a residential neighborhood is one example of a reasonable restriction.

It makes absolutely no sense for a webmaster to put up with speech that aggressively goes against these values. Furthermore, this type of speech circumvents the spirit of free speech diminishing it’s purpose. A society that permits uncontrolled hate speech is a society that will probably tolerate prejudice at every level.

People seem to consider freedom of speech as an unchallengeable right. This thinking is far from reality. In constitutional democracies, free speech is understandably limited in a number of ways either by law or policy, even here in the United States. The classic example of excluded speech is falsely yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theatre.

The notion that people should have to put up with hate speech against them in the guise of freedom of expression is very offensive to me. I consider it bullying. This isn’t just a philosophical discussion. The right of free speech is an important right, however it must not be permitted to be more important than the rights of other people.

The right to bear arms does not grant someone permission to shoot another human being. This right carries with it the duty of the gun owner to use it with great care. Likewise the right of ‘freedom of speech’ should be practiced very carefully so that we do not spread hatred and hostility.

The freedom of speech is one of the most habitually mentioned constitutional rights online. Too often though it is cited to justify a person’s right to say things that others may find offensive. However, while most people understand that there are limits to free speech, just as many people are shocked to find out that freedom of speech doesn’t actually pertain to many of the websites that they are using.

I do not believe that we should eliminate the right of ’freedom of speech’. I applaud the fact that a person should have the freedom to express their ideas and opinions as these produce progress innovation and innovation. But by the same token it is wrong to spread hate, to malign and slander fellow human beings all in the name of freedom of speech.

Basically people now just insult each other for holding different opinions from them. This is why I think freedom of speech should be used judiciously.  As a writer and blogger, I fully support the constitution and the bill of rights. However when someone goes on a privately owned blog or website, I believe the owner has every right and in fact the duty to delete offensive posts and even ban the person who wrote them.

I have been an electric blanket owner for several years now. After my wife, my electric blanket is the number one thing in my life I can’t live without during the winter. I could make do without forks, without a TV, without matching socks, but I don’t think I could get through the winter without the potential for a warm bed to crawl into at the end of the day. With snow already falling and showing up in the five day forecast, I enjoy nothing more than the thought of retiring to the soft, toasty magic delivered by some thin wires and fabric as the world freezes beyond my window.

Now days we turn down the thermostat (which is already set low) when we go to bed. I spend all day wearing a fleece lined hoodie and wrapped up in a wool blanket. Unfortunately, I have to leave my nice warm and toasty cocoon occasionally during the day. I then rush back and wrap myself up again like a swaddled baby.

I admit I really didn’t like the idea of an electric blanket. My phobia might have come from watching too much TV where a victim was killed by their murderous electric blanket. After a while though, it became clear to me that I would not be killed by my electric blanket if I used it properly.

Don’t tangle or fold the blanket up when it is on. Make sure it is flat on your bed or couch. Don’t wrap up in the blanket like a mummy and then try to see if you can get to the bathroom without unplugging the cord. At the very least, turn your blanket off when you go to sleep or put it on a timer just to be safe. There are several timers that plug in the wall outlet for turning lights on and off that are suitable.

The Electrical Safety Foundation International (www.esfi.org), a nonprofit based in Rosslyn, Virginia that researches electrical safety in North America, reported over 370,000 house fires occur annually and that electric blankets and heating pads combined only caused around 500 of these. According to them “almost all of these fires involve electric blankets that are more than 10 years old.”

I suggest you use a sharpie to write the date that you purchased it on your blanket and throw it away after about 8 years just to be safe. People new to using electric blankets really shouldn’t fear them, just as long as they’re using them properly and didn’t get them from a yard sale with the wires poking out. You are more likely to have a house fire from cooking or a candle according to FEMA. The only thing most users are in danger of is turning it up too high and waking up in a sweat.

Nevertheless, electric blankets’ unjust reputation remains. The electric blanket is an irrationally silly device, something I had associated with bad ideas from the 1970s, like avocado kitchen appliances and shag carpeting.

There is nothing worse in the winter than crawling into bed and then just lying there, trying to warm up your sheets. Prior to using an electric blanket, going to sleep used to be a nightmare (pun intended). It required me to find the thickest flannel pajamas I could find and crawling under 15 layers of blankets and comforters. I would then curl into a fetal position and shiver to warm my pocket of air under the blankets that I would lose instantly if my wife got out of bed.

The best part about an electric blanket is that they only warm your bed, not the whole room or the whole house. Central heating warms the actual air of a room, it also dries it out and makes your nose stuffy. You might even save some money by using an electric blanket rather than keeping the heat on high overnight. And in drafty homes or apartments they’re all the more essential for comfort, and far safer than a space heater.

If you and your partner happen to disagree on what is a satisfactory level of heat, and I know my wife and I do, there are quite a few blankets with dual controls that allow you to control your side of the bed. And if you sleep alone, that’s an even better reason to buy an electric blanket.  They are particularly nice when you sleep alone.

Sure, there’s still an undeniable ridiculousness to having an electric blanket, the ultimate luxury, but our winters are cold and long and with winter just getting started, we have already had snow. There are many, many cold Western New York nights ahead before we see the leaves on the trees again. When you get in bed tonight, think about how nice it would be to slide between nice warm sheets and then go out and buy an electric blanket.

Just turn it on about an hour before you go to bed, then turn it off when you get in and you’ll be nice and warm.

I recently ended up on the ground as I was on my way to a medical appointment. My legs just gave out. Several kind people came to my aid and they even called an ambulance for me. It got me thinking about kindness. There are many ways to show kindness.

Be loving. My wife likes flowers so I try to keep fresh cut flowers in the house every day of the year. Give flowers to someone for no particular reason at all.

Be courteous. When you find yourself waiting in a line in a supermarket and there is someone behind you with just a few items you let them go ahead of you. It won’t take much of your time and could make someone’s day.

Be friendly. When I used to take bike rides thru the city, I would greet people I would see sitting on their porch. They would always say hello back.  Say hello to strangers when you walk past them on the street.

Be charitable. I have walked into a local food bank with some cash and gave it to them. Donate anonymously. Just the act of giving is all the reward you should needed. Most of us have clothing we have out grown or don’t wear anymore.  Donate used your clothing to charity. It feels good to know you are helping someone out even if you don’t know them. Also you can donate your used vehicle to a worthy cause.

Be thankful. I once saw three soldiers in desert camo going into a local sandwich shop. I circled the block and went in and paid for their meal. When I see a veteran with a ball cap indicating they had been in the service, I go out of my way to thank them. This also happens to me as well when I wear my Vietnam veterans’ hat. Make every day Veteran’s Day.

Be considerate. I worked at a super market in my youth and one of my jobs was to go on “cart patrol”. It was especially aggravating to have to get dressed in my winter coat, hat and boots to retrieve that one cart someone had left in the furthest corner of the parking lot. Return the cart to the store or the cart corral if they have one.

Be thoughtful. Speaking of shopping carts, I give my cart to someone at Aldi and when they offer me the quarter, I refuse and tell them to pass it on. Sometimes I just push it into the cart collection area and walk away, leaving the quarter in it. It’s just a quarter, It’s not going to bankrupt me.

Be kind. We all get frustrated in traffic at one time or another. However, simply because traffic is moving slowly doesn’t mean that we can’t let another driver into your lane. One additional car in front of you isn’t going to make you arrive any earlier or later. Mow the lawn, rake the leaves or shovel the snow for a senior citizen and surprise them. When I was younger, I used to snow blow all the way around the block. I figured I was dressed and out in the cold anyway, why not help people out.

Be polite. The next time you hear someone sneeze, say “Bless you” whether you know them or not. People rarely do this anymore.

Be appreciative. At some point in time, we’ve all had to call a handyman to help us out. The next time someone is at your house fixing something, offer them a cold drink. Let them know you value the work they are doing for you. You might get a higher level of service in gratitude and maybe the bill will be a bit lower. I know, I used to run a handyman business myself.

Be nice. Hold the elevator for someone. The few minutes you wait for someone will not affect your day but it may improve theirs.

Be generous. I have taken extra coupons to a fast food restaurant and give them to families with children or older couples. If you have extra coupons give them to other customers. Stop at a kid’s lemonade stand and buy a drink.  It’s usually only a quarter. You will make them smile. Servers make their living on tips. Leave a big tip and the next time you go you might be treated well.

Be Complementary. Telling someone you like their work, their outfit or their haircut is the cheapest form of kindness there is. Acts of thoughtfulness generally cost you little and can make a person’s day better.

I recently was at a Dance recital. At intermission, I went out to get something to drink. They were selling iced, bottled water for a dollar a bottle. Unfortunately, the cooler was on the floor. Being as I have a balance issue, I asked the person in front of me to get me a bottle of water. She handed me the one they had gotten for themselves and bent over to get one for herself. I slid my way around her and cut in front of her. When it came to pay I paid for both of our drinks. One good turn deserves another. Kindness starts with just one person holding open a door for another and that person passing it on.

It was a cold day in the 60’s that I started a 4 year journey that would change my life forever. I started out a boy and when I was done, I had become a man.

I boarded a bus for Great Lakes, Michigan. There I would spend months learning to march, and how to handle a rifle. Yes, I was at Boot Camp.

This was the longest period of time I had ever spent away from my friends and family and it prepared me for even longer stretches I would have to spend away from them.  I was selected as the leader of my group which meant I was responsible for the actions of all the people in our company. This was the first thing I learned in the service. Don’t volunteer for anything. I got this job because they asked if anyone had a driver’s license. I raised my hand anticipating a plum job driving around dignitaries and officers. Psyche, they were just looking for someone foolish enough to raise their hand.

We started out with a physical examination (turn your head and cough). They checked our eyesight where I failed the color perception test (it didn’t matter). After they checked our hearing, we went to the clothing issue area where we were measured and given a sea bag full of clothing including underwear, socks and shoes. We also received personal care items like a toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of soap.

Then we took a general classification test to determine the area of our aptitude. After physical training and a visit to the obstacle course, we participated in a swim test, water survival class where we learned how to remove our jeans and make a floatation device. We took damage control training where we had to repair simulated damage to our “ship” before it sank. We then visited a burn building to learn how to put out a burning ship, a smoke house, and a trip thru the tear gas building, After many hours of classroom instruction to complete our training, we graduated and got our stripes.

We then received our “Marching orders”. I was lucky to be selected to go to Machinery Repairman “A” school. This was probably due to the machine shop and mechanical engineering I took I took in high school and college. After a brief leave to visit back home I boarded a flight to San Diego California where they offered this school. California was interesting. I had never been somewhere where all the trees were palm trees, no maples or pine trees. On the weekends, some of my “mates” and I would get sleeping bags from “special services” on the base and go to the sandstone cliffs of La Jollia for the weekend. Armed with my “boom box”, we would swim and enjoy our time away from the base.

We would build a small fire to cook our meals and there was a public drinking fountain nearby that we would fill gallon bottles of water for our use. Water wasn’t all we drank. We used to get a gallon jug of Red Mountain wine at the local package store. This was accomplished by asking someone going into the package store and giving them a few bucks to get this for us. None of us were old enough to buy it ourselves.

We would take food from the mess to take with us but we would also buy food from the Alpha Beta supermarket that was near our campsite.

When I graduated from “A” school I took another short leave to go home and then went to my ship in Newport Rhode Island. My wife and I got married after a long 6 month cruise and we started living in Fall River Massachusetts. That was one of the roughest times of my life up until then. We were living without the benefit of family living nearby and I now had someone else relying on me for food and shelter.

We had no safety net so we had to do it on our own. All through the first few years of our marriage and the birth of two of my children, I was at sea as much as I was in port. It was during this time I learned a lot about myself. I learned more about personal responsibility, family values and self-reliance than I ever had before. Now some fifty years later, I am amazed that my younger self was able to pull it off.

I developed skills during my time in the military service that enabled me to survive, raise children and live a good life. I learned self-confidence and self-reliance. Like I said in the beginning, I started out a boy and when I was done, I had become a man.

The plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty reads: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

One thing that goes unsaid in all the talk about immigration policy is that immigration has made America great. Unless you are a full blooded Native American, you are descended from immigrants. And even they allegedly migrated here through Beringia, which included parts of modern East Asia and North America that was connected by the Bering Land Bridge.

America has been its best when it has been big-hearted, particularly when dealing with people deposed by poverty, war and violence. The immigrants who have come to America have added greatly to the vitality of our society, both economically and culturally.

The Irish potato famine, which took place between 1845 and 1852 brought many Irish immigrants to America. South Buffalo is traditionally known for its large Irish-American community. The Irish laborers turn out to be instrumental in the growth of America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is thought that 3,000 Irish laborers helped to build the New York Erie Canal, which was dug with shovels and horsepower, and many Irish worked on the railroads, farms and in the mines. The Western New York, Irish Famine Memorial is within view of the Erie Canal, the grain mills and the steel mills where the Irish helped to shape American industry and establish their place in America.

Between 1870 and 1892, it is estimated that as many as 20,000 people of Polish descent arrived in Buffalo.  Barracks were often built as temporary housing. The Poles soon found work in local foundries, shipyards, and other industries and they founded a community on Buffalo’s East Side.

By the 1970s, there was an estimated 300,000 Polish people living in Western New York. There is still a small number of Poles (34,254) living in the East Side Polonia neighborhood which is around Broadway/Fillmore and the Broadway Market. There are also a small number of Polish businesses in the blocks around the market.

It would be xenophobic hypocrisy for the people of Buffalo, a city which honors itself on it’s ethnic variety to reject or denounce any new immigrants that are here legally. Immigration has always been an American and a Buffalo success story. Immigrants add much, much more to our economy than they take. Immigrants are two times more likely to start a business and they commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans according to what I have read. It is hard for immigrants to get here and they hate to waste that opportunity.

Accusing immigrants as being a group of rapists, murderers or drug pushers has become a part of current conservative dogma. Now we have a large group of individuals from Honduras who are escaping their country due to violence and poverty. In fact it is their intention is to ask for asylum, which is their right under international law.

It is the right of the United States to forbid asylum to anyone who is determined to be undesirable. Now when our unemployment rate is low and job openings are going vacant, we need immigration, if only for economic reasons.

Recently the president raised the question about birthright citizenship, the Dreamers. The difficulty is the 14th Amendment gave us birthright citizenship for an important reason. Without it we would become a country with second class citizens. People, who were born in this country who would have fewer rights.

Defining citizenship by place of birth rather than by blood descent feels distinctly American. But that birthright, isn’t America’s alone. Unrestricted or nearly Unrestricted birthright citizenship is a feature of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Peru and all the countries of Central America.

The obvious reason is that the majority of the people in these countries trace its descent to immigrants and settlers, people who immigrated and who already had some other citizenship.  The people who have a justification to limit membership to persons with the correct ancestry are people like the First Nations or native Hawaiians. They were here first.

I am descended from Immigrants. My own DNA reveals that my personal genetic makeup is European consisting of British, Irish, French, German, Scandinavian, Balkan and a few other nationalities. I am told the Balkan part is Prussian. Also my grandfather was Canadian.

The concept of belonging came to America with the British colonists. It didn’t matter if you came from Spain, Britain, France, or Ireland. if you were born in New York you were a New Yorker. Doing away with birthright citizenship would not bind the country together, but conversely tear it apart more. The undocumented population that would be excluded from the rights of citizenship would increase, as their children and grandchildren would fail to gain membership either.

It’s abundantly clear to me that a revocation of the 14^th amendment would be totally unreasonable, at least according to a conservative reading. Undocumented or illegal immigrants might be breaking the law and they are clearly subject to the law which is what the words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the amendment mean.

As we await the Honduran “invasion” I am reminded that if it weren’t for immigration I wouldn’t be sitting in my living room writing this and you probably won’t be where you are reading it. Let them enter the country legally.

Research Sources:  theweek.com, dailypublic.com, the-scientist.com, Buffalospree.com, Wikipedia.com and my own opinion.