My Dad

My Dad at Schooner or Later Restaurant on the waterfront, Long Beach, CA, May 2008

I have heard and used this phrase, "put it out in the universe and you never know what will happen." If you have stopped by to visit my blog, please send positive thoughts out for my Dad. If you pray, please say a little prayer for him. I am putting this out in the blogosphere universe in the hopes that my Dad makes a full recovery and gets to go home to his own place. Not some assisted living situation that I think will kill him.

My Dad at El Torito Restaurant in Long Beach, May 2008

My Dad is 81. He is the wisest man I know and also the most compassionate. He is funny as hell. He can be stubborn and has a lot of the old school in him. However, he rolls with the changes.

My Dad taught me how to drive, how to take chances, how to travel to foreign lands without fear.

My Dad served in Vietnam. He asked my mother to send care packages which he distributed to the orphanages in Vietnam.

He told me that many of the members of the armed forces were racist towards the Vietnamese. It sickened him and hit close to home since he suffered his own share of racism as a young man.

My favorite Vietnam story is when he had some young enlisted man come up to him to complain about a Vietnamese man who he was helping refuel a plane. The young kid called the Vietnamese man a "zipper head." So my Dad with clipboard in hand, taking notes to report the complaint, stopped, looked at the kid, and said, "how do you spell zipper head." Can you just see the look on the kid's face now?

My Dad in the garden of my home, Long Beach, CA May 2008

He had gall bladder surgery. We thought he would be home in a few days. It is seven weeks now. He developed a urinary tract infection that was so bad he has suffered kidney damage. He has arthritis and not walking has made walking again extremely painful. He is using a walker and getting physical therapy. He has excellent insurance so is in a good rehab, but man does he want to get home. Who wouldn't?

My Dad in the garden of my home, Long Beach, CA, May 2008

Anyway, I could go on and on about my Dad, but feeling a little emotional right now. So will ask again, if you pray, do yoga, meditate, please send positive thoughts my Dad's way. His name is Albert. He is in Tucson.

My sister is there and has been doing an excellent job acting as his advocate in terms of making sure his needs are being met. There are so many stories about elder abuse that having my sister there is a comfort. I am thinking of moving back home to assist in his transition home.

I am driving home this weekend. I will be spending Valentine's Day with my Dad and his lady friend in the rehab center. Can't think of a better man to spend my Valentine's Day. He's a good egg.

Che: Part One and Part Two

Movie Poster uploaded on Flickr by Cine Fanatico

If you are hoping to learn everything about Che Guevara from these two films, you will be disappointed. If you read about Che on Wikipedia or the most excellent book by Jon Lee Anderson, Che Guevara, A Revolutionary Life
before coming to watch these two films, you will love what you see.

Che Guevara, uploaded on Flickr by Ray Cunningham

I was hoping for more history other than how they took Cuba and what happened when Che went to Bolivia. However, if director Steven Soderbergh and producers Benico Del Toro and Laura Bickman, who produced Traffic, would have taken us on a journey beyond Cuba and Bolivia, I believe they would need to make a 10 part series.




Che Guevara, photo uploaded on Flickr



To see Che in Africa, his relationship with the existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, also his relationship with his second wife, Aleida, who he met on the revolutionary trail in Cuba, and a more developed view of Che's complex relationship with Fidel would have been intriguing as well.



Che Guevara in Africa with President Nasser of Egypt, Pan-African News Wire


Instead, the films takes place primarily in the mountains of Cuba and the jungles of Bolivia.

There is some footage of Che's trip to the United Nations in New York, the interview with a journalist played by Julia Ormand, and the party he attended at her apartment full of New York intellectuals later that evening.

Che Guevara on Meet the Press, 1964, Pan-African News Wire



I did stay long enough through the credits to see that they did indeed use Jon Lee Anderson as their chief consultant. Excellent choice. I wonder if Soderbergh read the 754 page book and then decided to make this film.

The Anderson book is a thoroughly researched biography that reads like great fiction. I knew what happened to Che in the end, but cried all the same. The book gives such great little insights I never knew. Like how Che was banging the maid in the kitchen when he was very young in his upper class home.



Che's motorcyle

How the motorcycle trip he took through South America is what turned him away from his bourgeois existence and into a revolutionary. He could have easily finished his studies and lived a comfortable life as a doctor, married with children, and mistresses.

A side note, if you have not seen the film, Motorcyle Diaries, I highly recommend you rent it. The film is a perfect depiction of this defining time in Che's young life.

After his trip through South America, Che returned to Buenos Aires to finish his medical studies in record breaking time of three years. He took another trip up through South America into Central America and ended up in Mexico City. This is where he met Fidel. They spent many a late night discussing poetry, philosophy, and the revolution.

Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in Cuba after the revolution

As a matter of fact, they start the film in Mexico City at a dinner party.

And near the end of the film there is a flashback of the boat ride to Cuba. Fidel and Che managed to buy an old fishing boat and convince 80-100 recruits to join them on this revolutionary journey. Che looks at Fidel standing at the other end of the boat. A look to me that said he wasn't sure he trusted Fidel.

Fidel and Che in heated discussion

Many think Che was betrayed by Fidel and abandoned in Bolivia. We get some indication of this in Part Two when Che is in need of funding and asks a journalist to get a letter to Jean-Paul Sartre and Betrand Russell telling them he needs more financing for his revolution.
Benicio Del Toro, photo uploaded on Flickr

Benicio Del Toro does a great job in his film. Fidel is played by the actor who plays the mayor of Tijuana in the Showtime Series Weeds. It is shot in a docudrama style by Soderbergh. He often shoots his own films under the name Peter Andrews.

I am glad this film was made. I hope it sparks an interest in Che Guevara's life other than his image on t-shirts and posters that adorn many a college dorm room. It is an important part of history that sadly did not make my high school history books.
Movie Poster uploaded by Cine Fanatico on Flickr

Australian Open 2009 Men's Final: Rafael Nadal Defeats Roger Federer in Thrilling Five Set Match

Rafael Nadal wins Australian Open, photo uploaded on azzurri_nr1

Roger Federer was hoping to tie the Pete Sampras record of fourteen major titles. Rafael Nadal was hoping to win his first major title on a hard court. The rivalry between these two champions is legendary. This was destined to be an absolutely thrilling match. Tennis fans were not let down.


Roger Federer, photo uploaded by azzurrri_nr1





Federer showed an unusual vulnerability in this 4 hour and 23 minute five set slug fest. There were double faults normally not seen from this former number one in the world.






Rafael Nadal, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1 on Flickr







Rafa and Roger during trophy ceremony, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1 on Flickr

Rafa showed his usual class after defeating Roger. When Roger lost his composure during the trophy ceremony, it looked as though Rafa was going to cry as well. Roger had to be led from the podium. After Rafa was given his ,he backed up and let Roger come back up to the podium and try again.
Roger Federer at trophy ceremony, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1

Both players are class acts. Rafael Nadal is solid gold. As a musician friend of mine, Pete Fahey, says, "solid gold, with a lion's heart and a gentle soul."
Roger and Rafa, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1



Rafael Nadal celebrates his win, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1 on Flickr

One last thing, the commentators asked the drivers for the driving service that shuttled players back and forth to their hotels how the players behaved in the cars. The drivers said the nicest player all the time is Rafael Nadal. Of course he is.


Here are some more photos I found on flickr that tell the story of this amazing match.




Roger Federer after his loss to Nadal, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1 on Flickr








Rafa drops to ground after winning Australian Open, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1



Rod Laver, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, photo uploaded by azzurri_nr1