DOCUMENTARY REVIEW: HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT GREG? A JOURNEY THROUGH ALZHEIMER'S WITH FAITH, HOPE AND HUMOR

I've reviewed multiple documentaries that revolve around the demoralizing and at times near degrading disease of Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's disease is a deeply personal disease and yet it is is becoming all consuming to the overall world population. The numbers of people afflicted with this mind erasing disease are climbing and they are climbing quickly. Fifty million people on planet earth are currently living with some form of dementia and that includes the most dreaded one of all, Alzheimer's disease.  

My father was diagnosed with the disease at the young age of 69. What my family didn't know at the time was that those pesky personality changes that had been showing up for several years prior to the onset of the actual disease were the initial symptoms of the disease. My father lived with the disease for 12 years and in large part he lived a life full of love, compassion, mercy and grace. Most of the credit for this quality of life goes to my now deceased mother. My mom loved my dad with every single cell in her body. Love, real love is spontaneous; and my parents were amazingly spontaneous. 

The documentary, Have You Heard About Greg? A Journey Through Alzheimer's with Faith, Hope and Humor is about journalist Greg O'Brien's experiences with the disease. O'Brien was diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer's at the age of 59. The film by Steve Ecclesine is an intriguing look at O'Brien's daily life. O'Brien states early on in the film that 60% of his short-term memory can be gone in 30 seconds. Stop and think about that. That is frightening. As the nation and the world ages and the population numbers grow we will continue to see more and more people with this shared experience. 

                                                Greg O'Brien

O'Brien's situation may have been exasperated by two known serious head traumas he suffered, including a severe fall off of a bicycle. Needless to say, this is not the only way to get Alzheimer's, but we do know by the many studies conducted that head trauma and concussions are contributors to severe brain disease. One of the best documentaries you will ever see is Frontline: League of Denial. The documentary explores the National Football League and its players and their various issues with harsh brain injuries. Again, there are many reasons why one would get Alzheimer's disease and brain injury is just one of those reasons.     

Fortunately for O'Brien he is surrounded by a loving family, including his wife, two sons and one daughter. One of the keys to surviving this disease with some semblance of dignity is to be engulfed with love from family and friends. Many people don't have this ring of love and devotion. 

Some of the finest moments in this documentary are when O'Brien is sharing his inner thoughts with his Pastor. There are times in life when you just want to let your thoughts go unleashed and O'Brien does this frequently with his Pastor. There is a wonderful story that transpires between these two men about geese and how they fly in formation and how they take turns at the front. Going to the lead is an act of encouragement and a display of hard work. The geese take turns in their respective leadership roles. Relationships that work in life are in many ways the ultimate synergistic display in life. One hand does indeed wash the other.  

Alzheimer's disease is different than other forms of dementia in that it isn't just the loss of cognitive skills, but it is the total breakdown of the physical body. O'Brien suffers from macular degeneration, stenosis of the spine and neuropathy from his knees to his feet. He is also incontinent.  

The vast majority of people don't want to contemplate their own mortality, but we all will die, therefore contemplating death is not depressing. Contemplating the very concept of death can be cathartic. O'Brien has a deep spiritual resolve. The idea of not finding faith until you pursue faith is explored with his Pastor and when he says he wants to go home - needless to say, you believe him. 

Greg O'Brien wrote a book about his experience with Alzheimer's and you can read the book to learn more about his journey with the disease. The book is called On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer's. 

Multiple neuroscientists and other medical professionals outline some ways to potentially delay dementia; and those points are provided in this poignant and revelatory documentary. They include:

1) Sleep - Get seven to eight hours per night.

2) Learn how to handle stress. 

3) Interact with people. Do not isolate.

4) Physical Exercise - Walk, Cycle, Go the the Gym, Garden

5) Learn New Things. Continue to educate yourself.

6) Diet - Plant Based Diet, Mediterranean Diet, Fiber - A healthy gut, a healthy heart leads to a healthy brain.

Have You Heard About Greg: A Journey Through Alzheimer's with Faith, Hope and Humor is a film worth viewing.  

Copyright The Flaming Nose 2022

  

    

THE GREATEST SONGS BY THE DOORS - THE TOP TEN!

This is my opinion...

The Doors were the most unusually distinctive rock band the United States of America ever delivered to our radios, our vinyl records, our CDs, our cassettes, our 8 Tracks, our streaming services. They were a marvel of magnificence and certainly one of the most significant of American rock bands. 

The band had a short shelf life due to the untimely death of their dynamic and troubled lead singer, Jim Morrison. In spite of Morrison's 1971 death at the age of 27 The Doors amassed a memorable music catalog in just five years of recording.

They were a group of gifted musicians even though Morrison himself wasn't a musician, but Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore were certainly three of the finest musicians in the annals of pop/rock music. Morrison wasn't completely able to distinguish one chord from another, but he had a unique singing style that could alter itself from one song to another and he certainly knew his way around the concept of words. Some critics lambasted him as pretentious and a wannabe poet, but one would be hard pressed to look back on Morrison's lyrics and not see a gifted wordsmith. 

Morrison was a certifiable genius with his 149 I.Q., but some biographers have stated Morrison suffered from extreme clinical depression and there is no mystery surrounding his hard-core alcoholism. In the late 1960's there were no rehab centers and even 12 step programs were somewhat rare. If one is being truthful about Morrison he probably wouldn't have attended one of them no matter what pressure was put upon him. Seemingly, no one in his inner circle would have done anything anyway. Sadly, the people that most likely would have supported and encouraged him were the very people he no longer spoke with. He was a talented, brilliant and stunningly beautiful man who lost out to booze and depression. He wasn't a good discerner of relationships; and his life was ended in a bathtub in Paris. Nearly 51 years after his death, the music of The Doors can still rattle a cage and upset the path of least resistance.

 Morrison's perfect features and a head of hair all the girls would envy.  

Morrison was fortunate to be in a synergistic music relationship with one of the most sensational of keyboard players, Ray Manzarek. Drummer John Densmore was a creative musician who could play jazz, blues and avant-garde experimental music. Robby Krieger is one of the most underrated and undervalued guitarists of the rock era. Some of the finest songs by The Doors were written by Krieger.  All these years later, here are:  

The Doors Ten Greatest Songs

10) THE WASP (TEXAS RADIO AND THE BIG BEAT)

Jim Morrison wrote this semi-autobiographical song years before the band recorded the song for what would be their last album (with all four band members on the album), L.A. Woman. In the earlier years, Morrison would recite the song on stage as beat (late 1950s-early 1960's poetic style) poetry. Since Morrison's speaking voice was a beautiful soft lilt he could pull off reciting poetry without sounding wildly off the mark. Today, with that voice, Morrison would have been a terrific add to narration on nature documentaries. Go ahead, imagine that. Imagination is all you have left with James Douglas Morrison.    

The song takes a twist from the high powered 1950's Mexican radio stations that could be heard across the U.S. border. Also, since Morrison spent a couple of years living in Virginia (his father was an Admiral in the United States Navy) he then had the experience of attending live shows in that state. His poetic take with these words were filmed more than once, but this was in an era when there was little to no film of pop and rock artists, so we are limited with what we now have available. All of the footage that does exist is featured in black and white filmed entertainment.

"Comes out of the Virginia swamps cool and slow with plenty of rugged precision with a back beat narrow and hard to master." 

The song has a unique marching band push of the melody. Drummer John Densmore was in his high school marching band, so that snare drum is right out of Densmore's high school days. 

Morrison may have been one of the definitive bad boys of rock, but he was far more intriguing than most, if not all of his counterparts. Ironically, what makes him hold our attention all of these years later is not the bad boy stuff, but the smart and sensitive side of Morrison.   

9) BREAK ON THROUGH (TO THE OTHER SIDE)

A powerful rock song with one of Morrison's best vocals. This song is off their debut album which was released in 1967. Break on Through (To the Other Side) is essentially a revolution within a revolution. It is a joyously unrestrained piece of music with a hard driving Bossa Nova beat. Keep in mind this song has to be put into the context of the era. Bossa Nova music out of Brazil was a huge trend during this time period. Even Frank Sinatra had drunk from the well of the Bossa Nova era. 

There is a superb guitar riff and the marriage of drums/guitar/keyboards make this song sound like a savage mash of ferocity. The Doors, at this point in music weren't like anyone else and in many ways there is still no act that can match their genuine calm meeting madness. Treasure that bass line as it works in complete harmony with Morrison's vocal. Break On Through (To the Other Side) is like a powerful thunderstorm with a whole sky full of lightening strikes.   

8) LOVE ME TWO TIMES

Love Me Two Times is a sensational pop song by The Doors. Morrison gets in your face with his interpretation and once again the bass line draws you in with heroic musical implications. A notable highlight on this track is that arousing and intense harpsichord bridge. Not a lot of bands could play this well and so consistently. Robby Krieger wrote this song as well, but much of the music on most Doors songs are made in communion with the entire band, but credit where credit is due ---  this is a Krieger track. 

7) LOVE HER MADLY

How not to love this song? One of Morrison's finest vocals.  Love Her Madly appeared on the L.A. Woman album which of course was their last album as a four member band. By this time, Jim Morrison's physical decline had intensified, but a listener would never know by this powerful and masculine vocal. A man singing about his woman. "Don't You Love Her As She's Walking Out the Door." Lyrics and music by Robby Krieger. A pop/rock song for the ages. Love Her Madly never wears out its welcome.    

                 John Densmore, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger

6) TOUCH ME

At the time of its release horns were becoming a central component in the success of some American bands. Most noteworthy was the seven man band out of Chicago named Chicago. Well, originally they were Chicago Transit Authority, but the city lords made them change their name. Chicago was a highly regarded band in the early days of their success and of course, they employed players on trumpet, saxophone and trombone. Blood, Sweat and Tears also rallied with much success at this point and The Doors allowed themselves to use horns and strings (hey, the Beatles used horns and strings on the then ubiquitous Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album). The horns and strings served this song well. In many ways, Morrison never sounded so good. He's the total crooner on the tune. Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Elvis Presley and Tony Bennett all could have sung this song. Imagine Jim Morrison in a Las Vegas lounge serenading the ladies with this wildly romantic song. 

5) LIGHT MY FIRE

Light My Fire was released 55 years ago as of this writing and it is surely timeless. Part of you can't help but think of another time and place and on the other hand it is as fresh as that proverbial daisy. Even though there is nothing The Doors touched that would come off as innocent and pure as a freshly picked daisy. The progression of the song just keeps ramping up and up and then it never drops you off.  You just keep going. It is one of the ultimate examples of classic rock at its best. Morrison's vocal is all predator. He never lets up as he near yells out for a rebellion. Manzarek's intro on this tune is so recognizable that you get it in two notes! 

Guitarist Robby Krieger wrote the song with Morrison adding only the second verse which includes the funeral pyre reference. Morrison gravitated toward the end of things, including life. 

4) THE END

The End started out as a farewell address to an old girlfriend from Florida. The woman in question wanted a career in Los Angeles and Morrison clearly didn't think that was such a good idea. In hindsight you almost have to wonder who in their right mind would have walked away from Jim Morrison at the age of 23? Well, she clearly did and most likely knew a lot more than anyone else at the time. 

The 11:35 song is a journey to uncertainty. Death isn't just knocking at the door. It is blowing the whole house down in one big swoop. Keep in mind the song was released while the Vietnam War was in full destruction mode. The neocons and the neolibs love war, death and killing. Yes, and they still do. The End is a thought provoking trip of a song and a psychotherapist would have a field day attempting to figure out the song and the author. 

Morrison was a self-destructive soul. The Doors were beyond way ahead of their time. 

The experimental world the band delves into with this song is like nothing else from the era. "This is the end, my only friend - the end."         

3) ROADHOUSE BLUES

No out and out rock band - I repeat no out and out rock band played the blues more masterfully and truthfully than The Doors. This is the example. This track is the definitive rock blues song. Some of Morrison's best lyrics are included in this romp of a track. Try not getting a speeding ticket while listening to this in the car. The nerdiest, dorkiest biggest yahoo of all-time could play this song and walk away smiling looking cool with Roadhouse Blues on their back.

"I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer." Well, quite frankly, the last thing Jim Morrison needed was a beer in the morning, but no question it's one grand line. Then, in the same song he delivers "The future's uncertain and the end is always near." In the middle of a bar band tune, Morrison waxes deeply poetic as though Tennyson is writing rock music. How much do you love this guy's work? Why, oh why did he have to be so troubled? 

That eminent bass was played by Lonnie Mack and John Sebastian (Lovin' Spoonful) delivers the memorable harmonica punches.

  

2) RIDERS ON THE STORM

The story goes that the band members were messing around in the studio by playing the cowboy classic Ghost Riders in the Sky and somehow that morphed into Riders on the Storm. Even if you don't know notes and chords you should get the similarities. Add Morrison's lyrics where he takes you on an intense path of his life and you end up with literally one of the most singularly unique songs ever released by a music artist in the latter half of the 20th century. 

This song must be listened to. Seriously, listened to. Play it while you are in the car. Play it at home. Play it anywhere. Riders on the Storm will transport you instantly to a dark two lane road with the rain coming down. I can see my windshield wipers moving at a quick clip and then the thunder hits.  

Few songs in the rock era are as evocative as this classic. Talk about being put into a place and a defined setting. Brilliant on all levels.       

1) L.A. WOMAN 

L.A. Woman and all of its kinetic energy is one of the greatest rock songs of all-time. There would be no theoretical way not to have this wild ride of a 7:50 minute song be at the top of the list. That rolling auto engine rev open sets the stage for a ride through a city. The song is clearly not about a woman, but about the city of Los Angeles. The city as it was in 1971. Today, that Los Angeles would be unrecognizable. Los Angeles was a beautiful city in the late 1960's/early 1970's. Today, it is crowded, dirty and ugly. It also takes about an hour to go ten miles. The only thing left are those hills filled with fire.  

I love the downshift of the tempo as Morrison goes full throttle into immortalizing his Jim Morrison acronym Mr. Mojo Risin - and he does it over and over again. "Motel, Money, Murder, Madness." In many ways Morrison saw the future of Los Angeles. L.A. Woman is a torpedo of spirit, spunk, rebellion, anarchy, chaos and out and out hard driving rock music. Few songs would run parallel to its achievement in rock's annals.     

A woman I went to high school with said she hoped if she ever got pulled over for speeding this would be the song she'd be listening to at the time. If that ever happens, I hope the police officer just lets her off with a warning!           

Copyright The Flaming Nose 2022

 

   

REVIEW: NOVA: DETERMINED: FIGHTING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

It's 2022 and there are literally thousands of options for filmed entertainment and infotainment, but PBS still manages to create programming you either cannot find anywhere else or won't find anywhere else. Their science series, NOVA is now in its 49th season and it is still producing highly worthwhile special programming.

Season 49, episode 5 premiered this week and it is another outstanding installment for NOVA. It is Determined: Fighting Alzheimer's. Worldwide in 2022, there are fifty million people living with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia; and most of the world's population knows someone that has this dreaded disease. It is not a diagnosis with a good prognosis. There is no cure for the disease, but this one hour special sheds light on what is happening in the fight and struggle surrounding the disease. 

Three women are enrolled in Alzheimer's disease trials at the University of Wisconsin which has been funding this program since 2001. The trial is called WRAP. My dad had Alzheimer's and he spent 12 years of his life under the heavy and darkened shade of the disease. Prior to his diagnosis, he had a variety of personality changes. At the time, we had no idea that personality changes took place prior to the onset of the disease itself. We only found this out years after he had started his path on the disease route. My mom didn't have Alzheimer's, but she passed at the age of 97 with age related dementia. There is a huge difference between Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia.

The three (Karen, Sigrid and Barb) women mentioned above are enrolled in the University of Wisconsin trials and all three of them have a history of Alzheimer's disease in their respective families. 

One of the moms featured in this special is named Irene and she and her husband, Doren have been married 59 years. My mom's name was Irene, so I am drawn to someone with my mother's name and ironically enough my parents were married for 59 years. Doren loved his wife and at one point he tells one of his daughters (who are all enrolled in the program) that he will keep on loving her and taking care of her. Doren's Irene eventually ends up on hospice as did my mom, Irene. 

The information that has come from some of these long-term studies provide healthy guidelines, but none of this necessarily means you will not get Alzheimer's or another form of dementia. Depression, anxiety, low mood and stress affect memory. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle while eating healthy and exercising have an impact in keeping the disease away. We live in a nation where 33% of the population is inactive. Physical fitness keeps your cognitive skills up high.  

Alzheimer's Disease wasn't discovered until 1906, so 100 plus years in we still have a long way to go. This special is superb programming. If you have an opportunity to view this special, please do. It is one of the most informative specials and one of the most personal pieces on the disease that has been produced on the subject.   

 Copyright The Flaming Nose April 2022

  

          

HELL ON WHEELS - A LOVE/HATE TRIBUTE REVIEW TO THE TELEVISION SERIES

"But all the while I was alone. The past was close behind." Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue

The words written here are the opinions of the writer of this post. It's long, but it needed to be long. 

HELL ON WHEELS SHOULD HAVE BEEN AND COULD HAVE BEEN AN EPIC. A LEGENDARY WESTERN. THEN WE GOT SOILED BY SEASON FIVE. 

The American West from a historical perspective was short-lived. A thirty year period (give or take a year or two) is what it ultimately encompassed. The men and women of the old west still hold a deep tug for many Americans and non-Americans alike.    

There are many great westerns, including a host of classic films directed by the brilliant (an overused word, but appropriate here) John Ford. Stagecoach and The Searchers are two of his finest cinematic achievements. Other memorable and worthwhile western films include, The Magnificent Seven (the original), Red River, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and The Wild Bunch. Television mined the western early on during the 1950's and 1960's.  Huge stars were born out of these westerns, including Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood and James Garner.

My great appreciation for the Old West runs deep and long, so I had originally approached writing this post about Hell On Wheels with great trepidation. Hell On Wheels (Seasons 1-4) proved to be mostly compelling. It wasn't perfect, but it worked. By the time Hell on Wheels arrived on the scene in late 2011 the television industry had already been nibbled to death during the 1990's. In 2002 there were less than 200 series on television and by 2021 there were close to 600 series being produced. No one other than the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God Almighty could know all of these series. Great programming in this environment often gets lost in the proverbial shuffle. Hell on Wheels did relatively well for its time. It rode five seasons out (unfortunately, it rode five seasons out) and men, particularly older men did return to the series with the passing years. 

"Rolling into Kansas too. Rolling into Denver. Doing all she'll do. And she hangs a big left in Salt Lake City. Southwest to the Nevada line. Rolling into California right on time. Rolling on down the line." Bob Seger - Long Twin Silver Line   

The first two seasons fulfilled expectations and you looked forward to watching the next episode. Seasons one and two were paced in order to build tension and momentum; and sometimes in unsettling ways. Seasons three and four were relatively entertaining. The series continued to carry us on a splendid journey into another time. You even let the many examples of historical inaccuracies fly by and there were a few whoppers. By season five, the series had fallen down a trap of boredom, foolishness and desperation. Through much of the series, Cullen Bohannon, a former confederate soldier was a man struggling with his past. He loses pretty much everything and near the end of the series he states, "I lost everybody I ever had. All I got left is scars." This overly ambitious man in many ways defines America. Bohannon spent most of the first four seasons exemplifying the very concept of American exceptionalism; and then somehow we got season five. Anything and everything that was exceptional about Bohannon dies in season five. He becomes dull and weak. The self-loathing man becomes insecure and rudderless. The end game made Cullen a dismal dullard with little to none of his integrity, honor and valor left. Weakness is not an asset in the secular world.     

I took a spin into confusion when the series killed off Lily Bell (Dominique McElligott, who could pass for Jessica Lange's daughter) after the second season. The relationship between Lily and Cullen Bohannon is one of the most engaging relationships in the series. Bohannon's pick-up attempt in the bar late in season two was one of the few times Bohannon was having fun in the series. The two have a strong interplay. They are adults. We perceive them as quite different from one another, but they aren't all that different and they both know it. Lily Bell has even more chutzpah than Cullen Bohannon, but she appears delicate so her propulsive, uncompromising and feral traits don't rub quite like Bohannon's.  

Unfortunately, for fans of the show Lily Bell doesn't last long. The single biggest oh no moment in the entire series is her unnecessary death at the end of season two. There was absolutely no reason to do this and certainly not to do it so early on. Underneath it all, she too was quite ambitious. One would have to be to bed Thomas Durant. When Lily tells Bohannon she waited for him at the dance, Bohannon delivers one of the best end game lines ever. After telling him off and walking away, he looks up in the air and says "damn it." This damn it is spot-on. Everyone has been in that moment. Romance, and then they kill it. If you have never seen this series, just watch through season two. An entertaining 20 episode mix. These two adults challenge one another.  Lily's departure is one of the great errors in television's recent history. 

The series takes place during the Reconstruction period and that era was built by soldiers, immigrants, one-time inmates and former slaves. On the surface, the series is riddled with moments of revenge, but the series isn't about revenge. It is about the concept of judgement viewed through the lens of the seeking of moral clarity. Hell on Wheels defines what America was up through the 20th century. By the year 2000, we saw that this is what happens after 200 plus years of fearless progress, hard fought history, and unrivaled leadership in the world. The United States, even with all of her flaws became the single greatest global power in the history of world. Keep in mind, the Roman Empire was a mighty empire for centuries, but they ended up dying on a dime. Today, the U.S. appears not to be dying on a dime, but dying with only a handful of dimes left in her back pocket. Hell on Wheels encapsulates an era when people worked. We have become lazy, sloppy and ignorant. No one knows how to do anything today. The people of prior generations could do pretty much anything, including get milk out of a deer for a human baby. We are wearing slippers and pajamas to diners. 

The characters in Hell on Wheels are an ambitious bunch. The major cause of ambition may appear to be the completion of the trans-continental railway system, but the real cause of this objective is the building of the country. Thomas Jefferson's dream fulfilled.  

Cullen Bohannon (Anson Mount) is the protagonist of the series; and in one way or another everything revolves around his presence. He's a rugged, manly, masculine man and we don't see much of that in contemporary filmed entertainment. Early on, Bohannon frequently reflects on faith and forgiveness. The series has people with faith, people without it and people looking for it. The second best relationship Bohannon has in the entire series is with Ruth Cole (Kasha Kropinski), the town's Christian leader or church lady. Cullen and Ruth have one of the most open, honest and transparent relationships you could possibly expect in a series. There is no romance here. Just mutual respect and a large dash of admiration. Bohannon early on states that he isn't worthy of forgiveness, but Ruth assures him more than once that he is redeemable. Ruth's belief is biblical. Repent of your sins and admit you are a sinner saved by the grace of God. By the end of the fourth season, they do indeed tell each other they love one another, but he is not "in love" with her. Ruth is the most beautifully sincere person in the the entire drama (she starts out as self-righteous and ends her life as a righteous woman). Her death by the noose is tragic, but she chose her death. Bohannon could have prevented this. He tried to prevent her from not going through with it, but he held power in his hands to prevent the hanging.     

Common portrays Elam Ferguson; and Common is quite good in this role. He is a friend to Bohannon and a strong counterpart to the madness, sadness, pain and the subtle but rare joys you find on the road west. At the end of season three, Elam is attacked by a bear and his brain has been damaged. His horrific change will bring him to the end of his earthly life. His presence was missed at the end of this series. Elam should have been around to the bitter end and the end is bitter.  

Colm Meaney portrays the ruthless and corrupt Thomas Durant who is the official head of the Union Pacific Railroad. Meaney is a terrific actor and his zesty performance overcomes some of the stereotypical aspects of the writing of the character. His most meaningful relationship in the series is the one he shares with Eva. Eva starts the series as one of the town's prostitutes and goes through a series of life altering dances as the series progresses on. Robin McLeavy is quite good in this pivotal role.     

The single most riveting person in the cast is Thor Gunderson. His nickname is "The Swede" even though he happens to be of Norwegian descent. The Swede is played in a striking and distinctive way  by Christopher Heyerdahl. This is one of the best performances ever filmed for television. There is no exaggeration here. Take Christoph Waltz's epic acting in the opening sequence of Inglorious Basterds and then think of this. Heyerdahl does this over five seasons. 

The series should have ended after the fourth season (maybe even after the third season). The tagline for season five was "All Roads Lead to Hell." Bad omen. Up until this point, you were enjoying the scenery of a good series, but by season five it went off the rails. It was monotonous and redundant. At times, Bohannon now has become an avalanche of misogynistic ugliness and harshness. This is often a problem with long-form television. Having worked at ABC during the Lost debut we saw a powerhouse series disintegrate quickly. Quite honestly, in hindsight Lost should have gone for one season. It had an epic one season in it and then the show went full throttle into the what, where, why and when of questions; and few of them were good questions and the answers were dead on arrival.   

The elements of faith keep returning time and time again. At the time, the nation was a Christian nation, albeit culturally Christian, not necessarily Biblically Christian. At one point, Bohannon enters a church and looks right at the Cross of Christ to say he is sorry for the things he has done and for the things left undone. Bohannon has killed multiple numbers of people, including four of the five men responsible for killing his first wife and young son. In season three he near rapes a young teen girl. You didn't see that coming for his character.  Louise (Jennifer Ferrin), the newspaperwoman thinks Bohannon is a man of honor and integrity. Oddly, most of the time he actually is. As Bohannon says "what would God think of a man like me?" Cullen suffers from a stain of self hatred. He is unpredictable, yet predictable. Ironically, the two men he should have killed, he didn't. The Swede and Snow should have been taken down. Old west justice. Of course, then the series would not have gone on as long. Wait, it did go on too long. At least one year too long!    

"God has the great capacity to take our sins and all you have to do is let him." Ruth Cole - Hell on Wheels

What started out as the masterpiece of Hell on Wheels is the character of Cullen Bohannon. The masterpiece is eventually robbed of real life and desecrated beyond recognition. By season five it isn't a character arc - it's a completely different character. Life doesn't work that way. As we age, we change, but this morbid downfall goes beyond the notion of change. Seasons one through four Bohannon is a larger than life figure who is believable in every moment of the first four seasons. Who would you want to be in a foxhole with? A man like Cullen Bohannon. Then we got season five.  

Bohannon loses everyone. He loses his wife and son, Lily, Doc, Elam, Ezra, Ruth and his second wife and son. The last two he doesn't lose - he abandons them. It is at this crossroads where the course of the character and the series leaves behind any sense of reality. Just when you thought you were witnessing one of the significant characters in all of western themed drama, you get dumped on in this significantly awful final season. There is no way Cullen Bohannon would have left this woman and this little boy. He had character and he knew of duty.    

Bohannon ends the series back in the confessional he started in back in season one. Was he Roman Catholic? Being in a confessional one can assume he was Roman Catholic, even though it would have been difficult finding a Roman Catholic in Meridian, Mississippi in the mid-19th century. Even today, the state of Mississippi is 77% Protestant. Is Bohannon looking for salvation? Clearly, at this point in life he is not. 

By the fifth season, the series is riddled with cliches. One on top of another. The fifth and final season doesn't miss a single second of ridiculousness. Everything but the kitchen sink gets thrown in. Wait, they threw in the kitchen sink. The final season could be right out of an American daytime drama. It is melodramatic to the point of near laughter. What the hell (no pun intended) happened to this series?  The saving grace episode in season five is the eleventh episode. Bohannon isn't in it! It's the only    episode in season five that isn't full of wild goose chase ideas for narrative. At one point we are exposed to an extreme close-up of a ring on Bohannon's wedding ring finger. Long camera hold. A man who totally dismissed faithfulness is suddenly at this worn-out age going to ride out with no convictions left. If you have seen it, you will recall the various shots of the keepsake box as well. Wait, you didn't get it. Show the keepsake box again! As Bruce Springsteen might have yelled out to an audience "is anyone alive out there?' No critical thinking skills. He has become a model gracing the cover of a soft-core "romance" novel.       

The creative team equates sex and plenty of it with love. Outside of the beautifully shot and lovely romantic scene with Lily in the second season and his near rape of a young teen in a barn this end run becomes a romp at the final bell. Mr. Bohannon finds himself embroiled with another young teen who is so petite that when he is holding her head in his hands it's as though you are witnessing a scene from a documentary about sex trafficking. What's the old buzzard doing with the young girl? Oh, then they one-up themselves by making the young girl dress up like a boy, so she can work on the railroad. Someone clearly thought this was clever. The series laid down and died and it took Cullen Bohannon with them. How bored were these people by the time they got to season five? There is no feeling here. The youth of this young woman is uncomfortable to view.         

Bohannon spends so much time chasing around for his latest round of conquering that you wonder when he works. Isn't he running a railroad? Someone should have checked with the historians at Princeton or Baylor. This all comes at the series end after the audience has been told repeatedly how honorable Bohannon is. Bohannon never bothered to look for his second wife and son until he was literally told exactly where they were. Good boy! That wife happens to be the same girl he shagged in the barn right under her daddy's nose. The casting of Naomi (the wife he abandons) changed from season three to season four. The first actor, looked so young it made Bohannon appear to be a pervert. Fortunately, Mackenzie Porter, who is still light years away in age from Bohannon at least looks old enough to potentially be a mate. She's sweet, pretty and smarter than she appears on the surface. We are now to believe he is in love with Mei, the previously mentioned young woman dressed up as a boy.  

"The brave choice is always family." Ruth Cole in Hell on Wheels 

Of course, Bohannon then finds time for one more murder. Chang, the pimp and drug dealer goes down by a single shot to the gut and no one gets arrested for cold-blooded murder (remember Ruth). Again, this is the same "honorable" man who wouldn't kill "The Swede," but took him for a ride, so the U. S. government could hang him. Just keep reminding yourself he abandoned his wife and child. I wonder if Mr. Toole would still find him honorable. 

Brigham Young (Gregg Henry) tells Bohannon that ambition resides in your heart and that's why you chose the railroad over your own family.  

"Gonna take a freight train, down at the station Lord, I don't care where it goes." Toy Caldwell (The Marshall Tucker Band)

Bohannon and Mei (Angela Zhao) have absolutely no chemistry. When you think great onscreen chemistry one may think of William Hurt and Kathleen Turner in Body Heat or Daniel Day Lewis and Madeleine Stowe in The Last of the Mohicans, but those are incredibly rare onscreen moments. When I write that they have no chemistry - it is not arguable. Nothing is sexy or romantic in any of these scenes. After the first time out, it becomes gratuitous. I suppose the more they shag the more we will be convinced that this is a love story. There are some women who will buy this lie. You need both actors to have a strong presence to pull this stuff off. To make this type of relationship work, you have to be full of intensity and attitude up the wazoo. You need something that takes your breath away and makes your heart skip that beat. You need the effect of hearing Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin perform a duet on Mozart's Concerto no. 3 in G Major! This "ain't" that. It's cheap melodrama without power or complexity.    

Bohannon bosses Mei around with a dominance that should scare the hell out of her, but she's too silly, immature and superficial to get it. The worst soap opera moment comes when he tells her that he actually didn't love any of the people he once said he loved. He let them go. What a man this is. Mind you, he literally left his second son with no intention of ever seeing him again. Today, we'd call him a loser. Pay up your child support! Fatherhood is great!  I worked on a drama that involved women and children being trafficked, so the last thing you want is this type of material. Casting is essential. If you are going to have a woman pretend to be a man, hire an older actress. One can potentially assume no one involved has a daughter.  By the way, they ripped this one right from The Walt Disney Company. Mulan!   

To go full throttle into what the hell am I watching, Bohannon tells a co-worker, "make friends with the Chinese. It's the only thing you can count on." Keep in mind, this ending was just six years ago. The CCP must have been quite pleased. Imagine saying this utter nonsense after spending more than six years of your life working with former slaves and immigrants who wanted a better life; and they worked their asses off. By the way, weren't some of these people supposed to be his friends? Bohannon doesn't even show up at the completion of the work with the golden spike going in. No one and I mean no one that ever lived on planet earth would have made that decision. He went from being a transparent, honest man to a shallow, non-thinking human.         

There are two sane moments in the season five finale, aptly and thankfully titled "Done." Thomas "Doc" Durant ends with a monologue similar to the one he uses to open season one. The other highlight is Eva's literal ride into the sunset. I love horses, so this ending was a stunning tribute to the ultimate survivor in the series. Eva has been around too many blocks, but her ability to grow and gain wisdom from her path was a moment to pause and freeze. She doesn't go out weak and weepy, she goes out strong not knowing what her future will be. She doesn't need a knight in shining armor, she's got her horse, her wits and more accumulated knowledge than anyone else in the series. Breaking the pale horse was the culmination of a life lived, for better, for worse. 

The series originally premiered to solid numbers. By season three, it was still doing close to three million viewers. AMC ended the series on July 23, 2016. One could not imagine a worse night to end a series (well, July 4th would have been worse). I am going to assume that after the dismal season five the network program planning and scheduling team thought their final awful season should end in the dead of summer.   

Stand-out production values all the way around. Notably, the gifted Production Designer, John Blackie. This series at times looks like a feature film and it is all because of the Production Design, Art Direction, Set Decoration and Cinematography. They did not have a gigantic budget. Somehow they were producing this series for under four million per episode. Impressive to look at.  Hell on Wheels has a superb title theme by Gustavo Santaolalla.  

Most of Hell on Wheels is shot out-of-doors, so clearly these were not easy shoots. The series has a tremendous amount of violence, so this is not material suitable for anyone under the age of 16 or 17 years old. A head gets decapitated and a butcher gets dismembered. Needless to say, the old west was a violent time, although by the standards of the era we live in, maybe not so much more than the average big city in the 21st century.   

What started out as an impressive series turned out to be an intensely unsatisfying and downright miserable final season. They could have at least ended the series after season four, episode 12. When Bohannon tells Durant he's quitting it sort of/kind of worked. Go home. The series had an energetic blast through most of the first four seasons, but season five is full of so many convoluted and wacky happenings that all of this madness leads to a banal and mundane ending. In any good story, the protagonist must be way ahead of the audience. By the beginning of season five, we are way ahead of the lead. He's going down fast and we know it. Bohannon does offer up one of the most humane decisions in season five as he chooses not to kill any more Indians.     

Death, particularly in drama is often poetic. That is not a cynical, pessimistic statement. The single most satisfying ending for Bohannon would have been death at the end of the series. The act of leaving the wife and son is so deplorable you want to rinse yourself of the stain immediately. Cullen Bohannon, the archetype of the mid-19th century male should have passed on into whatever eternal life waited for him. What a waste of a character who literally could have rivaled anything Sergio Leone would have directed. This series could have been the greatest television western ever. It needed to condense the first four seasons and the end of the railroad into one, two or three seasons. It could have been done; and then we would have had an epic. 

Eventually in life, all your stuff catches up to you in one way or another.  

"For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me." Psalms 51:3

For a solid and historical read on the history of the transcontinental railroad, please do yourself a favor and read this book by Stephen Ambrose. The book is Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869.  All the vision, creativity, engineering skills and courage are brought to life in this book. If you know little to nothing about the U.S. Civil War take the time to read the mighty three part series on the Civil War by Shelby Foote or the smaller and not as intimidating three part series by Bruce Catton.   

Copyright The Flaming Nose March 2022

THE MUSKETEERS - TRIBUTE TO AN ALL-TIME GREAT TELEVISION SERIES

I was sharing a lunch recently with nine other women; and when we launched into our inevitable pop culture sharing it didn't take twenty seconds to realize not one of us had been watching anything the other nine had been watching. It is a definitive example of how we live in a niche world. We have few shared pop culture moments. One of the problems with lots of content is that you have no one to discuss it with. I want to share my thoughts on television, film and music, but no one is watching or listening to what you are.  

There was a time when pretty much everyone was watching the same material. If you are old enough, you will remember the phrase "watercooler television." Twenty years ago, there were 182 series produced. Today, that number has exploded to 559 series. The finest casting directors in the world cannot keep up with so much content, so actors that would have been big stars just twenty years ago are now not recognized by many people. 

There is so much content out there --  all of this content is not sustainable. At some point, with so few people tuning in to a particular series, the money will dry up for production. I look forward to the day! You cannot possibly have enough people qualified and talented enough to keep this up. Most series today are poorly written and executed. Not to mention, relatively dull and in many cases, downright awkward. Whether you worked in media or not, you ask yourself "how did this get produced?"

In recent years, I have found a few diamonds in the midst of some really bad television. One of the gems is the focus of this tribute.  In 2014, the BBC launched (aired on BBC America in the U.S.) a new interpretation of the classic (it is still in print) novel by the famed French author, Alexandre Dumas. The Three Musketeers have been portrayed on film several times over the years and usually with great success. Everyone from Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (silent film version) to Gene Kelly to Oliver Reed to Kiefer Sutherland to Gabriel Byrne have portrayed Musketeers. 

                                                                Tom Burke as Athos

The BBC minted creative gold with the Adrian Hodges crafted version. The series starred the always superb Tom Burke (how is it possible that Burke is not a household name?) as the most honorable of the Musketeers. Burke's portrayal of Athos is a stunning achievement in valor, courage, integrity and depth of character. Santiago Cabrera was a terrific Aramis and Howard Charles was a completely drawn Porthos. Add the delightful Luke Pasqualino in as D'Artagnan and you manage to have a crafty and artistically gorgeous band of Musketeers. On a conspicuously superficial note - they all have great hair!

The series launched in 2014 and ran for three seasons ending in 2016. By season three, the show started veering from its original source material; and losing Peter Capaldi after season one didn't help. Capaldi (Dr. Who) was Cardinal Richelieu in season one and needless to say, the Cardinal (the ultimate foil) should not have been discarded after one season. Marc Warren comes in to the save the day as the season two bad guy, Rochefort. Warren is a gifted actor and is a menacing bad guy. Season three provided two more outstanding performances by the bad guys. Rupert Everett was a consequential baddie (Marguis de Feron) who attempts to redeem himself mid-point in season three, but the real stunner in season three is Matthew McNulty. McNulty provided one of the baddest of bad guys in all of filmed entertainment dating back 100 plus years. McNulty is a gorgeous bad guy who is often shaded beneath his hooded cloak; and his Lucien Grimaud is unforgettable. Bad guy with Grimaud is the proverbial massive understatement.  For history buffs, the hooded cloak on the battlefield dates back to the Roman Empire. McNulty's agent should be pushing him to play bad guys. He keeps playing these dorky/nerdy/loser types and clearly this is a mistake. On the flip side, he'd be great in a love story. Heathcliff type.       

                                                     Matthew McNulty as Lucien Grimaud

Another major plus are the women. Maimie McCoy delivers the best Milady ever. You see her evil and manipulative ways, but deep down you know she still loves Athos and clearly Athos still loves her. One might say, it is more about lust for one another than love, but in the end she proves her love is real. I will not give away any big spoilers. After all of her double-dealings, you still find yourself rooting for Milady de Winter. Wildy good performance. Alexandra Dowling is excellent portraying Queen Anne. Tamla Kari is a strong Constance. Hugo Speer lends great strength as Captain Treville and then there is Ryan Gage as King Louis. With all of these perfect performances, Gage may very well be delivering the finest one of them all. 

                                                                Maimie McCoy as Milady

The Musketeers takes place in 17th Century Paris (1620-1635) and it is an entertaining take on highly skilled men who must protect their king and their nation. All for one! One for all! The series is filled with distinguished action sequences; and there is plenty of romance.  Men and women will be drawn to this fabulous production.  

The series is beautifully filmed (Czech Republic). The costume design, special effects, stunt work are all top of the line. The series looks like an expensive feature film. If you love period dramas, don't miss this one!

If you have never seen The Musketeers it is available for rent or purchase on DVD. Secure copies at your local library. You can also view all three seasons for free via the streaming services Tubi and Pluto. Pluto gives you better resolution, but with more commercials. Tubi is excellent, but it might cut off the ending to one of the episodes. 

Manly, masculine, rugged men saving their country! This interpretation is the truest to the original source material (in spirit, that is). It is a drama with a few bits of comedic relief. Unlike prior versions this is not a campy, over the top comedy. This is serious business - just the way Dumas wrote it. This is a tribute to one of the great series of all-time. Take my word for it you will be thoroughly entertained. Some material may not be suitable for younger audiences.  There are some violent scenes, however, there is no graphic violence. Additionally, the adulterous relationship between D'Artagnan and Constance is in the original source material, but the one-time act of adultery between Aramis and Queen Anne is not in the book written by Alexandre Dumas. Keep in mind, that would have been treason.   

                                                           Luke Pasqualino as D'Artagnan

                                                            Santiago Cabrera as Aramis

                                                           Howard Charles as Porthos

Copyright The Flaming Nose 2022

 

 

  

    

   

   

  

BLACK NARCISSUS ON FX REVIEW

The words written here are the opinions of the writer of this post. They may not necessarily reflect the ideas, worldviews or opinions of other writers associated with this blog. 

I am someone who needs to be motivated with passion in order to write at this point in life. This has not been a year of great television offerings. Of the premieres in 2020 that stand out I point to the EPIX series, Belgravia which aired earlier this year; and the superbly crafted Barkskins on National Geographic which supplied some of the finest television hours of any year, let alone this sordid and soiled year known forevermore as 2020. Neither of these series was renewed for a second season. 

It is always a sweet kick to encounter anything on television that gets me excited enough - to write about it. I will start by saying I am a sucker for romance and true love, but we rarely get romance or true love in filmed entertainment anymore. Ask yourself when you last saw a credible romantic drama or romantic comedy that pulled at your heart, mind and soul. We women are supposedly engulfed by the incompetent, dull, pointless, shallow and repetitive "movies" on Hallmark Channel, UP TV and Lifetime. The nonsense that passes for entertainment in these storylines are too mindless for words. I want to witness people falling in love. I want to experience two actors with chemistry working together. I want romance. If you like Hallmark films, please forgive me. 

The storyline of a nun having some thoughts about a man have been told in the past. The 1958 film, The Nun's Story featuring Audrey Hepburn and Peter Finch comes to mind. Finch certainly wanted to snuggle up with the always stunning Hepburn. His attempt at entrapment is featured in a couple of scenes and you cheered for Finch and hoped he would succeed in getting Audrey to leave the nunnery. She eventually does leave the convent, but not to run into the arms of Finch. Years ago, there was this wild for the day plot on the daytime drama, The Young and the Restless. A former prostitute named Gwen Sherman became a nun, but Snapper Foster (yes, that was the character's name) fell in love with her. What's a girl to do?  Nothing in this case, but most women were cheering on Snapper to get the girl. I say this as a person of deep faith, so do not think I am some agnostic or atheist who doesn't take the concept of redemption or forgiveness seriously. The Cross of Christ is the defining meaning of the Christian faith. For me, Jesus is all, so my secret heart desire to see nuns being tempted by attractive men is not some sinful desire. Oh, on the contrary. We all have a purpose, but in the stories of the women in The Young and the Restless and in The Nun's Story women who were never called to this vocation shouldn't have pursued it. This was not their vocation. They chose this path even though it had absolutely nothing to do with their faith. I will not reveal why Sister Clodagh (lead character in Black Narcissus) was not called to the vocation. You have to watch her say it in her own words. 

Which brings us to Black Narcissus. The novel of Black Narcissus was released in the 1930's and it clearly riled up the Catholic church. British writer, Rumer Godden wrote the novel and the novel was adapted into a screenplay for the 1947 film of the same name. The elegant and gifted actress Deborah Kerr played the nun and she was clearly tempted by the character of Mr. Dean. The original film was hesitant to showcase too much give and take between the two lead characters, but that was 73 years ago. The 2020 version of Black Narcissus stars Gemma Arterton and Allesandro Nivola. Arterton and Nivola are both superb actors and each has been around for quite some time. If you have never seen the delightful $5 a Day check it out. Nivola shines in a comedic role which is the opposite of what he does in Black Narcissus. 

This version is three hours long and it manages to pair the two actors in multiple scenes. Their chemistry is as untarnished as any attachment one has seen in recent years. You feel their near magnetic pull from their first encounter. The relationship builds from the back and forth insults which aren't necessarily insults, but are fastballs meant to test the other's metal. They build on those first wild pitches to an actual growing trust and eventual respect. The moment a man or woman falls for a man or woman, because of his/her character is when you know it is love. It is one of those rare gems I will watch again; and I rarely watch anything more than once. In this case, I will look forward to waiting a bit and then dive back in to watch two people falling in love. 

The final scene (I will not give too much here) is poetic. It is a well written final five minutes. Everything is provided in the final moments of this wonderfully artistic and crafted three hour mini-series. One can tell you they love you without them ever mouthing the words. One can display unbridled pride with the smirk of a lower lip. One can expose a hope craved for without ever saying the actual words. One can anticipate one's next move with a play on words. It is all in the phrasing. If you have ever been in love, real love, you will know the meanings behind the looks and the words. On-screen chemistry is rare and on-screen romance and love have unfortunately become even rarer. Jane Austen only wrote so many novels. Today, it is seemingly "uncool" to fall in love. If you have been there, treasure it and then watch Black Narcissus on FX or FX on HULU.

If a scene rivals the final five minutes it is the scene between Sister Clodagh and Mr. Dean near the end of episode two. Brilliant writing and acting and two characters never knew each other better.

If I get my way, it will be such a huge hit they will run dangerously toward a sequel. Sister Clodagh admits many things. 

A deep and genuine love story; and a powerful and beautiful piece of filmmaking. 

Black Narcissus was written by Amanda Coe and directed by Charlotte Bruus Christensen.

Copyright The Flaming Nose 2020

TV During the Covid 19 Pandemic: Episode 2: Animal Documentaries!

Animal Documentaries

(Part 2 of the continuing series..."what can I watch during the Pandemic?")

If you're like thousands of other people around the world with a bit more time on your hands because of the Covid-19 Pandemic lock down, then you've probably spent a good portion of it grazing through YouTube for heartwarming animal videos.  There's a whole sub-genre on its own and one that often helps to fill the hole in your lonely locked-down heart with dogs who are friends with donkeys, baby ducks mothered by confused cats, and Labradors with hilarious Scottish sports casters to call play by play on their bone toss.

Videos are great, but sometimes you need a longer format to quench the endless need for cuteness and pretty and big soulful animal eyes.  That's where these next three documentaries come in, all currently featured on Amazon Prime.  Each one is about an hour.  Enjoy!

Tails of Iceland

A few years ago my son and I had a chance to visit Iceland with some friends.  We drove our rented SUV through the frozen volcanic fields and marveled over the geysers, geo-thermal hot water pools and waterfalls. It all seemed beautiful, yet barren and other worldly...until we passed a semi green meadow (it was March) and saw our first real Icelandic wild life.  Ponies!  Hundreds of little horses who looked as if they'd all been styled for an 80's hair band revival.  Still sporting winter coats and glam-rock manes, there were herds of Icelandic horses in every color of the rainbow.

Now you can see some of the prettiest ones in a sweet little documentary that focuses on people who do a cowboy-ish drive of many horses to bring them to a summer pasture.  We also get to meet the people from Iceland who breed, show, shelter and love these versatile little equines. They are gorgeous creatures; spirited yet gentle with a fancy natural gait that enables them to lift their front feet very high like they are prancing.  You can imagine that trait developing from an evolutionary perspective, as they have had hundreds of years to forge their way through Iceland's drifts of snow.

Birders: The Central Park Effect

This urban animal gem has been out for several years but now gets wide exposure on Amazon Prime.  It follows the dedicated (some might say obsessed) bird watchers of New York, who live to view and record some of the over 200 species of birds that make Central Park either their part time or full time home.  New York bird watchers cross the spectrum of every type of person.  Never think you can pigeon-hole (no pun intended) an NYC bird watcher.  There are regular older white dudes who look like they'd be more at home on a golf course but their piles of expensive camera equipment give them away as birders.  There are little old ladies, one in particular who has been doing it for so long she even leads guided tours and keeps booklets of sightings going back decades. There's the famous author Jonathan Franzen who seems a bit surprised to find himself a devout birder. There's even the wonderful African American Ivy League enthusiast Chris Cooper, who some may have seen in a recent viral video during his encounter with a "Karen" who thought she would report him to 911 because he asked her to leash her dog.  One of the least stereotypical birders featured in this documentary was a teen girl, who took great pains to explain why being a birder wasn't "nerdy" but who ultimately had to admit, "yeah, it sort of is".

Who would have dreamed that a little plot of land inside one of the biggest cities in the world could host such a menagerie of winged friends?  There are cardinals, woodpeckers, finches and ducks.  There are hawks who build their nests in the high rises,  including the celebrity raptor, "Pale Male".  In an inspired touch, each of the birds featured in the documentary has its own credit at the end of the show.

I was inspired by this doc to purchase a bird feeder and little bird bath for my back yard.  It's a fairly inexpensive Pandemic lock down activity, so I definitely recommend it, as long as you don't have outside cats.  So far my most dominant "customer" is an "Anna's Hummingbird" who likes to stick her beak into the bright orange Firecracker flowers I'm growing in a pot.

Sally: My hummingbird

Cat Heaven Island (The kitties of Japan)

Full disclosure, there are many documentaries about cats in Japan floating about in Stream-Land lately.  Some focus on Cat Cafes, some on cat religions and some on feral cat communities.  Do Japanese people love cats?  That would be a hard yes, and one more reason for me to have visiting Japan on my travel bucket list.  But for now, nobody is traveling during Pandemic lockdown.  As of mid July 2020, Americans are not even allowed to visit Canada, Mexico or most of Europe due to our high rate of Covid 19. So we will have to be content to watch the Japanese cat docs in our living rooms with our own personal cats standing by.

Cat Heaven Island focuses on the cats of Tashirojima, a tiny rock off the coast of Japan.  Once a bustling fishing village, it's now mostly home to a handful of seniors and over 100 cats.  The kitties seem to be well fed and happy, getting hand outs of fish parts from the few remaining fisherman and additional meals from the doting seniors.  Everyone seems to wish that more young people would come and make this island their permanent home, but for now they content themselves with boatloads of tourists who come over from the mainland to see the cats.

If you're an animal fan, you'll find something to love about each of these special documentaries.  However, there's also a surprising bonus that threads its way through all three.  The humans that spend their lives with these critters couldn't possibly be more different; the cheerful Scandinavians in Iceland, the sophisticated New Yorkers and the quiet Japanese seniors in the sunset of their lives.  All of them are just as lovable as the furred and feathered friends that they follow.

Craving TV During Covid-19 Days: Episode 1--Competitions!

To The Winner Goes the Lava Lamp!

...or maybe a lovely piece of cake

Background

It's mid July 2020 and we are watching the end of the world as we know it unfold.  For the past four and a half months, the Earth has been consumed with a life and death battle against a new Corona virus called Covid-19.  As of today, a total of 3.4 million Americans have gotten sick with it, while 136,000 have died.  World wide, over half a million people have passed away due to this strange and deadly pandemic.  There is not one facet of life here in the U.S. unaffected by the scourge. Thousands of unessential businesses have been shut down.  Millions of people are unemployed.  In California you can't go out to a bar, or restaurant or fitness center or (most horrible for me) movie theater.  This could actually kill theater movie going as we know it.  All concert events, festivals, parades, beaches and even your own backyard party is....cancelled.  Just yesterday they announced there would be no Rose Parade for the first time in over 70 years.  If you do go out to a grocery store, you have to wear a mask.  This is because the disease is spread by aerosol droplets from people breathing or talking or coughing.  How does Covid-19 kill?  It turns your lungs to glass, it sends blood clots through your body, it shuts down vital organs, sometimes the kidneys or even the brain.  Often for kids or young adults, it does nothing at all or maybe just takes your sense of smell and taste away.  How can you tell if you'll be asymptomatic or one of the poor souls dying alone on a respirator?  Nobody knows. It's like the lottery. Covid-19 is a big fat mystery and that's why thousands of people are hunkered down at home with the whites of their eyes showing.  They call it "Sheltering in Place" or "Lockdown", and basically it means that unless you're an essential worker, you ain't going nowhere.  Welcome to our Apocalypse.  We always thought it would be Zombies, but instead it's a virus, round as a beach ball and sprouting tiny red maple tree spikes made out of protein.

So why is this post appearing on the Flaming Nose?  Because staying home and watching television is one of the few things that people can still do to help them forget about the danger lurking just outside their door.  And now, thanks to streaming over the Internet, there's more TV to watch than ever before.  Add Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, CBS Interactive, Disney Plus and Apple TV to the already rich roster of broadcast and cable TV programming, and there is enough to keep us distracted for a while.  To help our 12 readers sort it all out, The Nose is unfurling a series, starting with a couple of reality TV competition shows; Floor is Lava and the Great British Bake Off.  Since when does Jane K. care even a tiny bit about reality TV?  Well, as it happens, my brain has gone as soft as a good brie worrying about Pandemic stuff, and it's very soothing to be drawn to the sparkle of either mindless fun (Lava) or sugar filled artistry (Bake Off).

Floor is Lava

It's so simple, yet so compelling and hilarious.  Based on the children's game and hosted by a very affable Rutledge Wood, "Lava" consists of three teams of three people each who must use their wits, athletic skills and team work to cross an obstacle course.  The objects they use are slippery, the challenge is great, but not impossible.  Bubbling away underneath it all, is a lake of psychedelic red orange "lava".  If a contestant slips, they sink below the red waves, never to be seen again until the end of the show.  This is the best part and where the folks watching at home can scream and scream.  Who doesn't love lava?  I've read that the producers keep the red liquid very hot, just shy of scalding, so that it's shocking for the contestants, but doesn't kill them.  How awesome is that?  I sometimes wonder if they've added a flavor to the lava lake.  Maybe strawberry daiquiri or Buffalo hot wings?

The teams are made up of people who are connected somehow in real life.  A mom and two grown kids, a trio of bros who work out together, doctors and nurses at a hospital.  You can cheer on your favorite team or make bets on which one is going to win.  Winners get to split $10,000 and (what else) a lava lamp.  I think the latter is the only flaw in this show.  Lava lamps are not expensive, I think each of the three contestants on the team should get their own lava lamp so they won't fight.

Floor is Lava is one of the most popular programs on Netflix right now and I can certainly see why.  It's silly, mindless and exciting.  The perfect distraction from non-stop thinking about doomsday!

The Great British Bake Off

While the lava show is brand new, BBC's Great British Bake Off has just completed it's tenth season.  You can find several past seasons to view on Netflix.  Some of England's top pastry chefs as well as regular folks with talent compete to see who has the best skills to create cakes, cookies and crumpets, all underneath an enormous tent while the clock is ticking away.  Each contestant has a mini-kitchen where they create their sugary masterpieces.  They generally have to stick to a particular theme, although they can vary it as their creativity dictates.  So everyone has to make a type of scone, or theme birthday cake or fruit cake, etc.  After each segment, the judges come around to taste and rate the various efforts.  It sounds simple enough but sometimes things get so bollixed up (great British slang for a complete cluster f#$4&k;) the contestants actually cry.  There's a lot of drama involved in making cakes.  Sometimes a bit too much.  If you find yourself feeling tense while viewing, it's best to take it in measured doses. One contestant is voted off the show by the judges at the end of each episode.  The last one standing at the end of the season is the winner.

The judges in the Bake Off are delightful, ranging from either stern and matronly to eccentric.  One judge (English comedian Noel Fielding) provides occasional comic relief and is often dressed in black from head to toe like a Goth.

You might want to throw your mask on and stock up on some sweets before viewing. The cakes look extra fancy and delicious though, so you'll be disappointed if all you have is a Twinkie in the house.  I recommend pairing with Trader Joe's purple Ube icecream and an almond cookie.

Stay tuned for more helpful Covid-19 Pandemic viewing tips going forward.  Your faithful Nose writers will be sifting through thousands of programs to help you find the best ones to keep the Heebie Jeebies away.  Why not?  We're locked in too, so there's nothing else to do!