ddddd

Too much going on today, chaps and chapesses … was due for more politics but ran out of time … long phone call … so film now, final polit post following that.

“Watching On The Waterfront nowadays, two scenes stand out head and shoulders above the rest. First is the impassioned speech by Father Barry (Karl Malden) to the gathered dock workers in the hull of a ship where he tries to rally them against the mobsters running their lives. Second is the confrontation between Terry and Charlie Malloy (Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger) in the back of a taxi which ends in one brother pointing a gun at the other and Brando’s now legendary “contender speech.” Both of them are sequences where the characters do nothing but talk but each is a fine example of what makes On The Waterfront the undeniable classic it is; acting, scripting, cinematography, music, everything fits into one cohesive whole and the end result is a welcome addition to any film collection.

The story here concerns Terry Malloy, a New York shipyard worker who finds his conscience bothering him when one of his friends is murdered. Terry at first is a tough guy with a grim outlook (“you know my philosophy on life, give it to ’em before they give to you”) who despite his inner turmoil refuses to confess anything to the Police as it would make him a “rat.” However, the arrival of Malden’s headstrong Preacher and the victim’s innocent sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint in her debut appearance) throws his deaf and dumb world into chaos. Soon, Terry finds himself falling for Edie and the Preacher’s words hit home, leaving the angry young dockworker to question what’s really right. The mob meanwhile aren’t too happy about Terry’s UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIP and begin to pile on the pressure, especially his older brother Charlie who’s torn between loyalty to his boss and looking out for his younger sibling. Before anyone can put a lid on things, the dockyard becomes a very tense place to be.

Brando of course puts his heart and soul into his performance. Terry by his very nature isn’t one to carry his heart on his sleeve and so the great Method Actor is left to convey his turmoil through body language alone. It is a testament to how good he is that you can tell exactly what Terry is feeling even though he hardly ever expresses it verbally. Instead his shoulders hunch with resigned indignation and his eyes spark with anger, Brando playing the part so well he more or less disappears into the character completely. While he may have taken a lot of the credit however, he is far from the only strong presence in the film as Karl Malden’s rock hard Preacher is just as compelling, his depiction of the dignified man of Christ who isn’t afraid to drink beer and smoke cigarettes with the Wharf rats being a refreshingly positive portrayal of a Catholic leader. Eva Marie Saint meanwhile puts in a convincing portrayal of Edie, but she is hamstrung a little by some old fashioned writing. Her pursuit of her brother’s murderers give her some powerful moments but there are a couple of instances where it becomes all too clear that the part was written by a man. However, she still gives us one of the most touching moments in the film, a confrontation with Terry where most of their chat is disrupted by a tug horn that is achingly sad despite the absence of dialogue.

Acting is only one half of the equation of course and needless to say, the story remains constantly gripping. The murder that opens the film leaves an instant grip on the viewer’s attention and as Terry spirals further into an intricate web of half truths, things get incredibly dark. The New York tenement blocks that tower over the proceedings provide an imposing sense of claustrophobia while the rooftops are a smoke laden jungle of chimney stacks and TV aerials. However, if you look closely it becomes apparent that the crew still had some fun with the material and there is some subtle humour to be had – a wedding party degenerating into a brawl and a bar full of panicked customers emptying into the streets followed by a shot of one isolated individual desperately jumping into the bathroom.

All in all therefore, On The Waterfront is a film that is thoroughly deserving of its reputation. Brando excels in his role and heads up a highly talented cast giving it their all. Most of all though, it’s an engaging and captivating story of urban paranoia, filled with tough guys spitting out slang in barking New York accents. Think you’re a big shot, do ya? Huh? Well do us all a favour and check this one out. Ah enough a youse guys, ged outta here.”

 

Difficult to define a musical idea if you’ve not done so before with any success and are not a musician.

“Driving drone” is my limited attempt at defining a song construction which does not vary its rhythm throughout, except for a few bars of repetition, minus melody, at one point. That melody is actually a series of melodic interludes overlaying the core driving rhythm … not unlike baroque basso continuo … and it takes skill to blend them.

It’s also a style where the lyrical content is secondary to the rhythm and melodies … yes, the lyrics make short statements of seeming wisdom but you’re essentially in there for that life rhythm, for that soul.

And that becomes apparent when reactors to the songs try to make sense of them, especially young Millennial and Gen Z reactors looking back at these 70s and 80s ventures, realising how much better they were, musically, compared to anything else since in popular music.

Here are three examples of this “driving drone” idea:

So much to say about that … someone wrote that it was elements of funk, soul, jazz, pop, all thrown in together. And the young lady … always a buzz when a student “gets” something and there’s a link established between past and present. Now this one in which the musical break comes at the 4 minute mark:

Now I can quite understand those who think “repetitious mumbo jumbo” … the whole thing again is the driving rhythm which underlays and transcends any lyrical content, also any overlaid melodies until, at 4 minutes, some sort of break is needed.

In the last one below, that needed break or interlude comes at 06:56 and goes for almost exactly a minute, then returning to the original phrasing for the the outro:

Granted … it’s not everyone’s cuppa cha but it’s a distinct genre, most rhythmic, and some of us need that now and then. The closest I can get in RL to that was WN2 and I when, once the rhythm was started by her, I overlaid melodies afap, working off one another … a marriage of rhythm and aesthetics perhaps?

(0723) Late start today … bad in that it sets back the programme, good in that it allows me to at least do the programme. Ditto with your sleep and eating pattern, exercise. (0950)

 

5. Deep corruption in Texas. DJT has decided not to endorse Paxton to stop this. Juss sayin’.

4. Steve corner

🇮🇷Martial Law In Action.

Video showing heavy military forces taking over civilian areas in Iran to stop protests. pic.twitter.com/BJDdjheJtV

— WAR (@warsurveillance) January 16, 2026

JH: Just throwing this one in here, Steve:

Daily review:

• Buying Greenland Could Cost the US $700 billion (JH: But that’s worthwhile money for both parties)
• President Trump Confirms he Canceled Strikes on Iran – “Iran Canceled the Hanging of Over 800 People”
• After Shutting All Internet in the Country, Iranian Forces Are Now Jamming Starlink Service, While Users on the Ground Try to Bypass This New Censorship
• Merz folds to Russia. EU ditching Trump. Dark Macron. Zelensky v Klitschko. Trump gets Nobel prize (JH: That last one is the kiss of death)
• BritCard was a smokescreen; UK government has not shelved plans for compulsory digital IDs
• Civil Unrest Is One Of The Core Elements Of “The Perfect Storm”, And It Is Starting To Spiral Out Of Control On The Streets Of Minneapolis
• Much more.

3. And so it continues

2. DAD at 1265

Anti-EU day.

a) The European Parliament wants to grant the European Commission the power to control arms exports from EU member states to third countries. This initiative, introduced through an amendment, reignites an institutional standoff….

b) Leaked documents suggest that an Hungarian EU Official worked on organizing “Resistance” against Orbán “Regime”.

c) US technology companies that do not like the fines imposed under European digital rules can leave the European market, France’s economy minister said.

d) Censorship backfires: Germany’s assault on Press Freedom.

There is a direct link between our establishment’s struggle against social media and ‘fake news’ and the growing perception of politicians as dishonest.

1. How to win friends and influence people

a. Don’t write a post item like this.

b. We’re not just up against bad players, we’re first of all up against people who:

(i) Are historically and politically naive, without knowledge, plus self-satisfied with the little they do know;

(ii) Are therefore susceptible to the bad players and their highly organised brainwashing, which includes accusing those who resist of the very thing the bad players and ignorati themselves are guilty of.

Gladstone it was who said, of Disraeli: “I absorb the vapour and return it as a flood.” Not interested in what is or what is not but only in the game of parliamentary accusation and eloquent counter-accusation. Meanwhile little children die of starvation in the East End and other neglected slums.

c. These people somehow have the vote, which therefore perpetuates the horror ad infinitum.

d. The moment someone proposes meritocracy, two immediate problems rear their heads:

(i) Who exactly is going to set the test, the exam, the accreditation requirements?

(ii) Who is then going to forcibly introduce and then police those requirements?

How political naivety perpetuates bad policy, esp. if pushed by someone thinking he’s a Great Statesman … an example is the question of China on the US/Canadian border:

From Vancouver Island to Chinese bases above the northern border with Quebec etc., this is an existential threat to the US, just as the US letter agencies in the Ukraine, plus the EU globopsychos, inc. Meloni, are a threat to Russia … and the Iran Regime is a threat to its own area, plus around the world.

(1723) An interesting thing happened this afternoon … more in Fri 16.

 

19. Moosh corner

18. Steve at 1265 with war room

• Bannon: What You See In Minnesota Is Hatred For America, Hatred For American Citizens, And Dare I Say, Hatred For White People. They’re Adamant About Protecting Illegal Alien Invaders! They Invaded Our Country, And They Are Going To Leave

• Rep. Chip Roy (R): We Are At War, And The Islamification Of Texas Is The Goal Of The Enemy. The Muslim Brotherhood Has Set Their Sights On Dallas, And They’re Already Entrenched

• David Hoch: You Have To Go To The Source Of The Funding For This Fraud In Minnesota And That Is The Minnesota Department Of Human Services! They’re In My Sights Now. They Better Be Shaking In Their Boots Because I Know Exactly What They’re Doing

• Terry Schilling: Back In The 60s And 70s, Politicians And Experts Built An Entire Apparatus Of “Family Planning Services,” Which Is A Euphemism For Sterilization, Birth Control, And Abortion That’s Still In Place Today

• Frank Gaffney: What We’re Dealing With Here Is Not A Religion. We’re Dealing With A Toxic, Demonic, And Anti-Constitutional Ideology

• Pastor Matt Shea: I Believe The Constitution Bans Sharia Law Because The Constitution Says It’s The Supreme Law Of The Land, Yet Sharia Law Claims To Be Not Just The Law Of The Land That It’s In, But The Whole World

17. The importance of foreigners

16. X was down for me this afternoon

About an hour. Asked three people: “Asking a question here of, randomly @Xenosmilus4 or @DerylLynn or maybe @mongsley … this p.m., I lost X on all devices, could not log in … blank screen. Thought X was down. Was it maybe just me?”

Moosh liked my comment, no actual reply. Girls are interesting creatures. Ok, I’m assuming it was just me, which leads to: “Why?” Gab was fine, the sites were fine. There was also this:

Girls are interesting, cute in fact … obviously not going to get a reply, did get this:

Right, I’ll leave it for now … was already planning how to run HQ without X. Wait a mo:

Then:

Ah, right … understood.

 

It’s set on a studio lot, a soap opera episode, the acting is atrocious, every single person is insincere in cast and crew, apart from the heroine, Perry and Della … plus the one I like … the crazy fan who gets in where she should not be and inadvertently saves the “legman” along the way. Another I liked was the chief helper, Mimi Hoyle.

The print is poor, otherwise it would not be allowed on youtube, but watchable. As mentioned earlier, it was Raymond Burr’s last episode as PM (1993, seems 80s to me). It was one of those where absolutely anyone could have killed the cad. The girl is charged, the real killer confesses on the stand.

Standard formula but it rightly has a good rating. The reviewer below did not fully get the tongue in cheek joke throughout that a formulaic detection and legal series should have a soap opera as its final episode (for Burr).

“Perry Mason enters the world of TV soap operas to defend Mile High star Kris Buckner (Genie Francis) who’s been framed for the murder of her co-star, Mark Stratton (Sean Kanan). Somebody spiked actress Charlotte Grant’s (Krista Tesreau) lipstick with walnut nut oil, knowing that the actor would kiss her in a scene and, as a result, has an allergic reaction. The crew fetch his allergy kit but that had been spiked too and he dies.

The police figure that Buckner killed her co-star because, on the day before he died, Stratton demanded that her part in the show be drastically cut by having her character go into a coma. In a rage, Kris struck Stratton on the face saying, “I could kill you for this.” To make matters worse, a duplicate allergy kit of the murdered man is discovered in her dressing room and she was seen re-entering the studio on the night before Stratton died.

Mason learns that Stratton was detested by all who worked on the show and many had reasons for wanting him dead. They include production assistant Mimi Hoyle (Karen Moncrieff) who was once Stratton’s lover and she became pregnant with his child. But, he demanded she have an abortion and threatened to have her fired if she did not.

The show’s producer, Evan King (Michael Tylo), also had a strong motive for murdering Stratton because it turns out that Stratton was putting pressure on the production company to axe him from the show so that he could take over completely.

Mason is puzzled as to why Stratton appeared to have so much control over the running of the show because, after all, he was only the leading man. Mason sends Ken Malansky (William R Moses) to the rural town of Cedar Grove – Stratton’s home town – where an unsolved murder from thirty years ago could hold the key to the killer’s real identity.

This was Raymond Burr’s final appearance in his most celebrated role as the Los Angeles defence attorney in what seemed like a never ending series of revival movies that began with Perry Mason Returns in 1985. Burr sadly died in 1993.

Overall with these films, if you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty much seen them all. However, there were a few exceptions where the series successfully broke away from the routine courtroom drama formula, but this one is purely standard fare. If you love the series, as I do, then you will love it and for somebody who has never seen an episode before then its not a bad place to start as the storyline has enough to keep one engaged for a couple of hours and the script generally plays fair with the audience.

The supporting cast, while undeniably second league, is more than competent and Arleen Sorkin is good as an irritatingly obsessive soap fan, Peg Furman, who gets under Malansky’s hair as he does his usual heavy lifting in order to track down vital witnesses and clues for his boss – as ever, risking his life in the process.

Except that Furman, as much as Malansky wanted her out of the way, turns out to be useful, as she unwittingly holds a vital clue to the killer’s identity as a result of her sneaking into the TV studio and stealing a copy of Mark Stratton’s script. A coffee stain bearing the indentation of the murdered man’s personalised mug on the script helps Mason unravel the mystery.”

(1330) Afternoon all. (1330)

 

15. More on Iran

14. Careful what you wish for

13. Babies

12. The big question

11. I’m thinking only a young woman would get away with posting this

… she’s a Millennial (1980-97), speaking also of Gen Z (1997-2014):

 

Don’t know about you … a film certainly has its points … big budget, panoramas, sets, top stars, top director, highly constructed … yes, nice but sometimes an episode or two of a show is just the ticket for a break from the horrors … and two episodes is just what the doctor ordered, Steve and other sore ole bods. The second is a special Perry Mason mid afternoon with an unusual sidekick indeed, pity she only appeared in the one episode … that may have been partly because it was Raymond Burr’s final episode.

(1107) Elevenses going nicely, ipads behaving, got through to the lady with the sick daughter. Cunning plan is for a Simon Templar with Suzanne Farmer. I know some of you prefer Annette Andre. There might be a film too later, see how we go. (1152)

 

10. Moosh corner

9. Why? Just why?

8. More cyber issues

7. Not so interesting but still highly significant over there

 

(0844) Nondescript out there. (0944)

 

Bad things come in threes

So “they” say, whoever “they” are … it seems to have been as dusk fell yesterday. It had been a good day, productive. Almost suddenly, three things came through.

a. The news out of Iraq and Trump’s betrayal of those common people will go down in infamy … there are no good constructions to place on it. He’d promised eight times, vehemently. Footage which might be apocryphal but it’s irrelevant but reports confirm from Iraqi sources say people were fleeing into the hills to try to escape the slaughter.

What did Trump weakly accept being fobbed off with? That the 800 condemned to being hanged from cranes had a brief reprieve, while the 12 to 20,000 already dead and about ten thou in jails to be tortured were the reality, the revolution has collapsed, Qatar and other Arab nations happy for now. Even our own readers here are possibly divided … divide and rule, see?

I’m in deep shock, more than I ever thought I’d be … it’s not white Eva Vlaas, is it? So we don’t need to worry about these ordinary Iraqis who acted on a promise from the one world leader remaining … so they thought.

The question is NOT whether he should ever have promised … that’s another question entirely … at a minimum, he should have checked how safe that Qatari launch base was. No, he bigmouthed and bragged … thousands died.

He did promise … then reneged. Zero understanding. Possibly senile. Surrounded by traitors in his own entourage. So I look at our own issues here in Britain … police chief asked why they stand back. “Vastly outnumbered,” was his reply. Many times over. Jawdropping tyranny by the entire Westminster sewer. Jenrick? Who gives a toss? Eva Vlaar? Collateral.

b. A brief interlude where gmail went haywire, crashed twice … and it was someone breaching security. Why? Still shaking the head here. No matter, we got around it. Similar with Julia and I across the way. Again, ways around it … big shout out for MMutR and his assessment.

c. Apple. I know quite a few of you have various issues too, for example IYE and the coldness of the computer area. Julia this morning … Chrome will not load ggl itself. She refuses to use some thingy called Edge. Many of you have persistent health issues, grumbling health … yes.

Apple auto update the ipads and until now, with some reservations, I just let it happen, the difference was not all that noticeable. Not this time. It was my damaged middle pad that started it, the one I keep just for NHS things. Bear in mind how much money is tied up in three pads for this next paragraph.

Pad updated, I entered the code, up came a panel. “To complete the update, just swipe your credit/debit card over this panel or fill in the details.”

You wot?

You bleedin’ wot? Something about Applepay. Ah, for the app shop or whatever … should I want to buy something?

Nope. Looked for the little x to escape. There was none … the panel was frozen there. Ah, but that’s my already damaged pad, damaged by the NHS app. No matter. Though lack of access to the NHS app was a pain. For now. You see, there’s a ladyfriend … daughter had to go to hospital, suddenly. I have to be in touch at intervals today, to just be here.

No matter … went to my trusty first pad from 2022 … working … but noticed that they were updating, whether I agree or not. Install now or install tonight? I ignored it. Went to the new pad I bought recently. Guess what? Ignored that too.

So, for now, two pads working, pending forced update later. You see where this is going, dear reader?

Now, I do have a workable laptop but it only operates from LAN. Whole point of the pads, multiple hubs etc. is the versatility. I could not run HQ except for those pads. There’s a question, you see, about my eyesight now, focal length, shan’t go into it, haven’t told you before, plus sitting on chairs … yep, have never told you that one before either. Actually useful … keeps the bod moving.

That’s just an example of how it’s all ratcheting now, for all of us.

This pad now, the 2022 original, still undamaged. I go into OoL, which is ggl. … remember Julia’s issue? Ok, I want to upload the compressed sshot in the new post this morning (it’s up now, you can see it over there. Won’t upload at this point in the tale though.

No matter, I remember that this first pad was doing this with ggl anyway … try once, rejected. Try twice, won’t even look. Try thrice … usually works.

Not today. Ggl flatly refused to upload images. Panel came up all right, saying images, drag or drop … disappeared … blank window. No matter … refresh, go out, come back later.

Nope … that’s two pads no images possible now. Only the latest I bought … what if I had not, eh?

You do see where all this is going … HQ runs on sshots as you know. Steve had put three X links up last evening, fairly pointless given this new device crisis. The whole thing, let alone the coming forced version update, does threaten to kill HQ, while HQ itself still works fine.

Now … again … there are ways around it … new HQ theme for example, new provider, sky’s the limit, as on July 26th two years ago. Just be prepared, dear reader. Any HQ down prob … check NOWP. After that, UHC-WP. Failing that … Jstack. Failing that … OoL. Failing that … Julia’s own site. Failing that or maybe also … X. If that’s down … Gab. Failing that, email me.

🍿🍿🍿🍿