tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58731832010-03-24T21:03:50.408-04:00Mainer, New Yawka, Beijinger, Californian, points between. News, views and ballyhoos that piqued my interest and caused me to sigh, cry, chuckle, groan or throw something.Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comBlogger466125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-25061779072123850162010-03-24T21:03:00.001-04:002010-03-24T21:03:50.461-04:00

This blog is now located at http://ccblog.ellensander.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://ccblog.ellensander.com/feeds/posts/default.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-65654514237047191752010-03-22T12:28:00.004-04:002010-03-22T15:41:03.712-04:00

A major moment in the history of American domestic policy. The country now has a health care policy. It's not perfect, and most of it won't take effect for years, but it is certainly better than what we did have. I watched it happen all day and into the night last night, astonished at the acrimony of the Republicans, who have been called "a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry."

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-5006649724973703982009-12-23T17:31:00.010-05:002009-12-25T14:14:19.023-05:00

Crackpot Chronicles presents its pick for the top nine movies of 2009. There are other list-worthy films this year but these are the only ones that I saw. I don't recall seeing as many as nine movies theatrically in a year since 2000, and that was only because I went to a lot of WGA screenings that year. Here, in no particular order, are my picks. I would recommend every one of them, each for

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-14276744522954292892009-12-18T18:16:00.004-05:002009-12-18T19:14:31.831-05:00

See this in full screen HD if you can.These are the times of your life, the worlds of your time. If you're one of the many that have seen better years than 09, think of it as a blink of an eye in time and space, maybe one the wind blew a cinder into, but just the same...Behold the majesty and our means to express, to experience it. Be warm, cherish those you love. There are those in great need.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-72103748219789244362009-12-16T20:43:00.003-05:002009-12-17T10:45:01.676-05:00

This beautiful male Hairy Woodpecker likes to take his lunch break right outside my window in my line of sight as I sit at my desk. It took me a few tries to catch him in the act. The light had to be just right, and he had to sit still while I reached for the camera I had nearby, waiting for the opportunity. I am lunching on a cheese bread and Ugliripe tomato sandwich myself. I spent a bit of

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-15541262075708452012009-12-08T12:21:00.000-05:002009-12-08T12:21:23.583-05:00

Imagine

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-41685825675752382592009-11-27T01:21:00.000-05:002009-11-27T01:21:00.377-05:00

Darkness. The muffled paddle of footsteps. A forest of actors shadow around me and come to a posed standstill. Center stage right. The sound of one heart beating. Lights. Focus Curtain. Arms arcing, chin level, I aerate my larynx and let my line roll. It hangs in the air, roundly perfect.. Silence. I feel my eyes slide in their sockets. The cast slithers my horizon with venomous looks.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-74476403263663528012009-11-24T19:44:00.005-05:002009-11-24T20:23:30.063-05:00

An aurora, high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet recorded for the first time ever by Cassini.These observations, taken over four days, represent the first visible-light video of Saturn's auroras. They show tall auroral curtains, rapidly changing over time when viewed at the limb, or edge, of the planet's northern hemisphere. The sequence

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-75986475970853696822009-11-14T11:00:00.004-05:002009-11-14T11:29:30.760-05:00

I hope you are well. Life has been rather intriguing lately, but I've been almost completely seduced by microblogging on Facebook and Twitter, so have not posted here for some time. The former reconnected me to so many people from my literary and music-biz past, as well as all you Angelenos I miss, and the latter is a way to quip back and forth with friends all over the world and connect me with

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-32836723983933288542009-09-11T10:36:00.003-04:002009-09-11T10:42:29.994-04:00

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYCFeatured Artwork of the Day , Sept 11, 2009I Love New York, Dress, 2000Miguel Adrover (born Spain, 1965), DesignerAmerican; Country of Origin United Statescotton, cotton/silk blend; synthetic; Length at CB: 27 1/2 in. (69.9 cm)Gift of Miguel Adrover, 2005 (2005.44.2)

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-23674190467423412142009-07-14T11:49:00.001-04:002009-07-14T11:52:05.395-04:00

Cause and Effect Department: Levar Burton, of Roots, Reading Rainbow and Star Trek TNG fame was in a fenderbender in Beverly Hills yesterday. One of his most recent tweets: "RT @simplediary: What does it take to make you furious? Getting stuck behind a Prius on the freeway!" Yaaa, like, hello? Don't tempt the hybrid godz.He's OK.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-90148513955585342522009-07-12T12:05:00.013-04:002009-07-12T23:11:38.912-04:00

Arthur.It's hard to imagine life without you.Arthur. How can you be gone?A part of my heart dies with you.Birds Over a Rice Field --for Arthur Okamura     (Sept 27, 1973)Birds over a rice field   one   two   threeImpossible starlingseach a plane apart.He makes thermals occuron paper, I tell youlike Marcel Marceauhe has birdsdisappear whichwere never therein the first place.    Ellen

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-5107780850843754002009-07-07T09:48:00.003-04:002009-07-07T10:33:22.227-04:00

American artist, musical fireball, brilliant phenomenonIn my lifetime, it is the popular music artist galvanizing our culture with excitement bordering on ecstasy, with gatherings of huge numbers in admiration and in in love, that ignites us. As mourners and admirers all over the world gather to celebrate Michael Jackson, the radiant breadth and utter sweetness of his influence becomes evident.At

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-17402739436463780352009-06-09T12:42:00.002-04:002009-06-09T12:47:38.894-04:00

You can get tickets here Paul and his family are in difficult straits. If you can't attend the concert, please see his website and help with whatever you can.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-73935642439476526512009-05-22T06:17:00.009-04:002009-06-01T10:38:54.575-04:00

This is zhongzie, I usually have one or two for breakfast, with tea cooked egg or fresh local yogurt or warm fresh soy milk, sometimes some fruit, all from Beijing street stands. Inside the bamboo leaf of the zhongzie is sticky rice with some sweet stewed dates in the center. It is delicious beyond words, perfectly filling and less than 15 cents.Beijing was the last stop on my trip through Asia,

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-32543153736634831752009-05-11T09:08:00.003-04:002009-05-11T09:47:55.850-04:00

Maetaman Elephant Camp, Chaiang Mai, Thailand. What a day.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-54265495118332199422009-05-10T22:07:00.005-04:002009-05-10T22:42:17.093-04:00

Wat Pratat Doi Suithep is visible on the mountainside overlooking the city of Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. At night it's golden chedi glitters in the lights, a spiritual guardian of the region.Legend has it that a monk on a pilgrimage to the kingdom of Lanna had a dream and when he awoke, he began digging and found a relic which contained a small bit of ashes that were green. He knew

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-49954845633451053322009-05-07T08:18:00.008-04:002009-05-07T09:27:28.871-04:00

I'm in Bangkok, Thailand. I have friends who live here. It was mud season in Maine, the only time of year that it's not gorgeous. I jumped on a very cheap airfare and here I am after a 27 hour flight (2 stops). It's green, it's steamy, it's exotic, it's sublime. These smiling gentle Thai people, the fabulous food, the massages, the markets, the spirit houses, the sky train and river taxis

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-44274755119850635832009-04-23T07:26:00.004-04:002009-04-23T07:39:05.839-04:00

Next time I'll log in from Bangkok and a week or two later from China.In the meantime, all's well stateside, considering, we're surfing the trough. Frugality is the new wealth, and some of the stimulus money is beginning to have an effect. Obama just signed a $5.7 billion national service bill Tuesday that triples the size of the AmeriCorps (sort of a domestic Peace Corps) service program over

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-81000558807376112912009-04-12T17:35:00.002-04:002009-04-12T17:52:01.266-04:00

Way to go Navy Seals, for the rescue of cargo ship captain Richard Phillips from pirates off the Somali coast. A joyous Easter for his family and a WTG moment for us! They'll probably make a movie out of this one, so dramatic, dangerous and skillfully victorious.Story here, but by the time you read this more details will be available, for sure. Since I've been microblogging, blogging has

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-69398747870414220612009-04-04T06:42:00.003-04:002009-04-04T06:53:31.764-04:00

Back in the early stages of the financial crisis, wags joked that our trade with China had turned out to be fair and balanced after all: They sold us poison toys and tainted seafood; we sold them fraudulent securities....China now owns so many dollars that it can’t sell them off without driving the dollar down and triggering the very capital loss its leaders fear.Krugman in the TimesThat's the

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-34377642622503220052009-03-02T15:34:00.002-05:002009-03-02T18:25:56.548-05:00

This is a response to a post on Huffington, How Beijing Butchered Sean Penn's "Commie, Homo-Loving" Oscar Speech. The author was frothing at the mouth at how the Oscar speeches around MILK's wins were censored on CCTV, on their Oscars broadcast. I personally thought it was fantastic that they broadcast any of it.Living recently in China for years, I met a number of gay people from teens to

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-61444801774145271382009-02-01T12:49:00.007-05:002009-02-16T21:49:20.410-05:00

Here it is Super Bowl Sunday and this is one of the few Superbowl Sundays in my adult life that I'm not in the kitchen cheerfully assembling homemade pizza for a pack of bonding males. I'll probably make pizza anyway, maybe with caramelized onions and roasted garlic, it's a good indoor Sunday project for a sub-freezing day, but I don't fan American football and IMHO the only virtue of Super Bowl

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-332524866898719982009-01-21T19:10:00.001-05:002009-01-21T19:12:26.833-05:00

To all my Chinese friends and friends in China.

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5873183.post-85310948978991235932009-01-17T12:40:00.013-05:002009-01-17T16:46:11.797-05:00

Today Barack Obama boarded the Amtrak train in Philly that will take him on Lincoln's 1861 route to Washington DC, starting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with stops in Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore, Maryland. And so, today, begins this historic Presidential Inauguration. 2009 rang in with the drama of chaos and the flash of fireworks, but it won't truly begin for Americans until Tuesday,

Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422774571021407032noreply@blogger.com