Slum-dog Millionaire

Elaine and I watched the Slum-dog Millionaire movie last night. I enjoyed it immensely; Elaine thought it was "so-so". Because the area of my right ear is still numb from my carotid surgery, I am not able to wear my high-tech hearing aid. Because of the numbness, if it fell off of my ear I would not notice it.. and I can't afford to lose a $2,000 device. So, because I felt that there would be Indian accents that I couldn't hear properly, I put on the English sub-titles.

I needn't have bothered. Mysteriously, the main characters had hardly any Indian accents at all. Some Hindi words were used, but these were translated as said on the edge of the screen.

Were the speaking parts dubbed? I assume they were, since 20th Century Fox was the producer. They know how to entertain.. (and manipulate) and they definitely did not want any viewer to not understand what was being said.

The slum-dogs of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) were a lot like the street kids of New Bedford, where I grew up. The slums, of course, were different.. at the worst, our slums were castles compared to those in Mumbai. We would never have allowed the garbage mountains to accumulate like those shown in the movie. But, we kids in New Bedford were Urchins and knew how to survive by "hook or by crook", just as those did in Mumbai.

Instead of begging from the general public, we kids begged from the thousands of sailors that filled New Bedford during WWII. These young service men were suckers for a kid's lament. We got lots of dimes from them. Enough to pay for plenty of movie tickets and junk candy.

Also, we were chased a lot by store owners and the police. Luckily, I was never caught. I can't say the same for some of my friends.

The movie was supposed to be "true to life" and seemed to be that way until the end.. when the Bollywood stuff took over. The cast all began to sing and dance in an unrealistic manner.. but one that I like. Of course, this meant that realism was no longer in effect.

The views of Mumbai were spectacular. It is a city of 19 million people. Slums are disappearing as new high-rises sprout up. But what has happened to the people who cannot afford the high-rises?

Years ago, I read a Look magazine article about the future of big cities. They projected that eventually there would be massive mile-high apartment buildings, each holding up to 300,000 people. In between these buildings would be extensive gardens and parks. However, whenever I think about the future of cities, thoughts of "Soylent Green" come to mind. and scare the hell out of me.

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A Spectacular Day!

It's a little cool after some big thunderstorms passed through. Elaine is watching World War II on TV.. lots of blood and guts being splattered around. The movie is about the Navajo code-talkers who did great work in the war, by communicating in their native language, which I've read is only decipherable by one caucasion. One of my friends in the Air Force was called "chief" and was a code-talker. I saw this man, with a chest full of medals, get busted by a young second lieutenant because he was one minute late arriving at a troop ship in New York. I have lots of stories about Chief, which I will write either as a book or as a blog.

Today, I finished my Income Tax!!!!!!! I probably could have squeezed out a few more deductions, but enough is enough.... ! Now it's time to work on Elaine's tax, which is also very complicated.

Yesterday, I began to see a darkening in my right eye, and Elaine saw a bubble in my left eye. Oh, Man! What the devil is aging doing to our bodies? I immediately thought that I was going blind and pushed to get an eye exam moved up to today. The Opthalmologist said that the bubble is caused by my allergies and the darkening is just macular degeneration increasing. Overall, my eyesight is 20-20... with both eyes open, that is. Nothing to worry about, but he did ask me to see a retinologist (sp?) to make sure that my macular degeneration is "dry" and not "wet".. if it is wet, I would have to have immediate laser surgery to stop the leak from my macular. Like I said... kind of.. the devil is attacking our bodies as we get older, especially those of us who have not lived an exactly pure life.

After the exam, I got to wear sun-glasses and pretend I was a movie star. I wonder if I still have the sun glasses that I won in a black jack game in the service from a Baltimorean who was cheating. I probably told the story before, but here goes again. I was watching this guy (let's call him Willy) winning constantly at blackjack. One day I noticed that some of the cards I held had half moons carved in them... just in the low cards.. 2's and 3's and 4's.

Then I noticed that Willy was making the marks with his long fingernails. Armed with this information, I got into the game and eventually took all of his money. All he had left to play was his pair of designer sun-glasses. I won them too, and I know I've told this before.. but Willy was so mad at me that he discharged his 45 at the crypto van where I worked until he got it all out of his system. Then we became friends again.

I don't want to gross you out, but let me tell you about the evenings when Willy wasn't gambling. Willy had the ability to break wind at will and a local German taxi driver liked that and would ferry Willy the 20 miles to Nuernberg and back whenever Willy wanted him to. At Nuernberg, Willy had some girls and men who would pay him for his services in a different manner. So, Willy really did not need any money to go out on the town, drink and carouse. Quite a character. (Oh, did I tell you that Willy was an Air Policeman?)

Well, the Code-talkers are helping to recapture Saigon from the Japanese and some medals are being handed out, so the movie should be over soon. I don't like to watch WWII movies because what is depicted is not the way it happened, or so I've been told by friends of mine who were in it. Most of the time it was pure boredom.. with periodic total chaos. Just like everyday life.

When will human beings learn to be human beings? Last nite I listened to a presentation about Marylanders in the Civil War. There were Marylanders on both sides and they even fought against each other at Gettysburg. However, there was one time when humanity showed itself. After the fighting, both groups met and helped take care of their wounded.

I'm still reading Carl Sandberg's books about Abraham Lincoln. I still find his writing disjointed, but very interesting. It is strange to me, but not surprising, to find that the politicians then were a lot like the politicians today... backstabbing, lying, stealing.. etc. It's a wonder that our country survives. President Lincoln stands out as a beacon of humanity compared to those around him, like Salmon Chase, who praised Lincoln to his face and then wrote to everybody who would listen about how dumb and bad for the country he was. But, Salmon wanted in the worst way to be President. He did not make it, but he did get some distinction.. by appearing on the $1,000 bill (I think.. I haven't seen many of those babies.)

Well, to top off the day, I cooked up salmon pinwheels... salmon and crab. With baked potato and corn on the cob. It was delicious if I do say so myself. Perhaps I should try for a slot on Iron Chef. Of course, it would not have been as delicious as it was if it wasn't for the India Pale Ale that accompanied it.

Many years ago, the British invented India Pale Ale so that beer would not spoil by the time it reached India from Britain. The taste, in my estimation, is sublime.. and far far far different than the watered-down light beer that brewers think we dumb Americans drink. I see people in liquor stores loading up on light beer and I feel like telling them to try "real beer" instead.


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