Posted inEntertainment

The Housekeeper

When Laurel glanced at the cover of the DVD movie, “The Housekeeper,” that I brought home recently she said, “I can see why you want to watch this.” I was offended. True, the cover shows a beautiful curvaceous young woman, wearing every man’s fantasy of a “cleaning uniform,” posed provocatively on her side, smiling sensually. But the reason I chose this French sub-titled movie went far beyond the cover image. All the way to the back cover, which summarized the plot. The aforementioned housekeeper, Laura, is hired by a balding man in his 50s, Jacques, who has separated from his…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Homosexual marriage letter printed (barely)

For the benefit of local residents who didn’t notice my letter to the editor that was printed in the Statesman-Journal today way down there at the very bottom of the second page of the “Opinion” section, here’s a link to my profound musings about the economic benefits to Oregon of making this state a “heaven” for homosexual marriage (in case that link disappears from the S-J web site, here’s the letter as I submitted it.) Perhaps the humble placement of my letter was karmically produced, since I stole Laurel’s ideas, wrote them up, and signed my name to them. Late…
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Posted inEntertainment

Panic setting in…can’t breathe…

Oh, my God! I couldn’t believe it! I thought I’d become inured to all of the horrible news in the world. But when I saw the headline on the CNN web site, I knew that Laurel and I now had to face something that would catapult us into a new category of fear and trembling: loss of Comedy Central on our Dish Network receiver, which means…NO “DAILY SHOW”! The only bright side in this nightmare is that the Portland CBS station is still on the air, not being owned by Viacom—with whom Dish Network is having a pissing match. So…
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Posted inRecreation

Just what we don’t need

Thanks to Randy Smith for sending me a link to a New York Times online story that is exactly what Laurel and I feel central Oregon doesn’t need right now: a glowing description in a widely read national newspaper of the Sisters/Camp Sherman area. We love our (shared) cabin on national forest land bordering the Metolius river in Camp Sherman. We also love going to Sisters, about fifteen miles away, whenever we visit the cabin. About the only thing we don’t love about the area is how fast central Oregon is growing. So hopefully readers of the New York Times…
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Posted inBooks Philosophy

“I” for an “eye”

Last night we watched an hour and a half Oregon Public Broadcasting fundraising program about the photographer Jim Brandenburg, blissfully shortened through the magic of our PVR (personal video recorder), which took out all the fundraising moments. Brandenburg is a highly successful nature photographer who felt burnt-out after twenty years of traveling the world and working for National Geographic and other magazines. Searching for a way to rekindle his passion for photography (and, we must presume, life), he decided to do something amazing—for a professional photographer, at least. Rather than taking hundreds or thousands of photos a day and culling…
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Posted inHome life

Return of the King (mattress)

It’s nice to know that after fourteen years of marriage Laurel can still get me breathing heavily in our bedroom. Also, on the stairs leading down from our bedroom…in the living room…and in the guest bedroom way at the other end of the house. Yes, that was quite an encounter between Laurel and me after we torn off the sheets and got all sweaty with a mattress. Next time, though, I’m hoping that we encounter each other on a mattress, rather than on other sides of a mattress. For we have begun the quadrennial (approximately) ritual of finding a better…
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Posted inMiscellany

Google hath forsaken me

Oh, Google, why hath thou forsaken me? I worship daily at your throne, www.google.com, and praise you far and wide. Soon after I set up this new home for HinesSight I entered your good graces, and you indexed me (Google be praised) at http://hinessight.blogs.com. Now I have fallen from your favor, and my heart is sorely troubled. What must I do to please you, oh Great Google? Well, I think I’ve already answered my own question through a visit to the Google web site. Apparently Google doesn’t like “mirror” sites in which several URLs point to the same content. Since…
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Posted inPhilosophy

Heresy is heretical

Last night Serena and I took a walk in the dark on a (rare) rainless Oregon night. Down the trail, across the creek, through the woods, around the lake, and back home. One mile. Many inspirations. The moon was almost full. Not a cloud in the sky. Sparkling stars. Symphonies of frogs croaking in the distance. Few signs of humanity: me, of course; Serena’s red flashing LED collar; some house lights; occasional sounds of a passing car. Mostly, Serena and I experienced nature as it is now, absent people, and as it must have been, then, before Homo sapiens evolved…
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Posted inEntertainment Philosophy Plotinus

Plotinus and “The Passion of the Christ”

This is the first time I’ve commented on a movie without having seen it. But I’m pretty sure that Laurel and I won’t ever see “The Passion of the Christ,” so I might as well throw in my two cents now rather than later. We’d probably see the movie if either (1) we were Christians, (2) the film had a significant spiritual message, or (3) we relished watching people get tortured. Since none of these things is true, Mel Gibson will have to get along without our $16, or whatever outrageous amount Regal Cinemas is demanding for entry these days.…
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Posted inHome life

Lovely Laurel comments

It was a big day on the Comments front yesterday. First, I was thrilled to find that Keith contributed the first comment to appear on this new home of HinesSight (on my Paris Hilton posting, accessible in the “Recent Comments” section in the left column). Then, I checked my email and found that on my old weblog I'd received another comment on my American Splendor/I learn to wash lettuce posting. This wasn't quite so thrilling, as the keywords “Laurel Hines,” “exaggeration,” “poetic license,” and “evil eye” leapt to my attention--notably the “Laurel Hines” identifier, she being the owner of the…
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Posted inFamily

My Paris Hilton relationship revealed

I’ve come to feel that it finally is time to reveal the nature of my relationship with Paris Hilton. Laurel and I have been following her “career” (so to speak) with considerable interest, observing with wonder the marvel of how—as others have noted before me—it is so easy in America to be famous for being famous. While this tidy circularity implies that Paris’ accomplishment has been largely effortless, our research on E and VH1 tells us otherwise: Paris works very hard at partying, and she devotes much time and attention to looking naturally beautiful. Yet Paris is more than a…
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Posted inEntertainment Home life

American Splendor/I learn to wash lettuce

Recently we rented a DVD of “American Splendor,” a great movie about the life of Harvey Pekar, who wrote comic books about the life of Harvey Pekar, and who appears in the film at various times playing himself, Harvey Pekar, while at other times an actor (Paul Giamatti) plays the life of Harvey Pekar. All this intermingling of real life and cinematic life reflects the theme of the comic book (called, naturally, “American Splendor,” like the movie), which could be stated as: life is art is life is art. Laurel didn’t like the film as much as I did, perhaps…
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Posted inHome life

I’m the king of the world!

King of the world, that’s who I am all right, in my own mind at least (where it counts). For I have replaced a rusted-out leaking drain on our laundry room sink, notwithstanding my normally plumbing-challenged handyman skills. There was something tremendously fulfilling about successfully dismantling the decrepit parts and installing the fresh new parts, adding the dollop of plumber’s putty, tightening the, um, whatever-you-call-its that needed to be tightened, turning on the water, and hearing the water run down the drain with nary a drip. The list of those I’d like to thank for enabling me to achieve this…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Caveat subjector

OK, “subjector” isn’t really Latin, but I wanted to add a P.S. to my last posting about subjectivity, and “let the subjective person beware” sounds so much more profound in pseudo-Latin. I’ve been thinking that my Howard Dean-like cry, “scream your subjectivity to the sky!” needs a qualifier: make sure you allow everyone else to do their own screaming along with you. This, it dawned on me as I did my deep thinking while driving around today, is what makes the difference between irritating ranting and raving (per conservative talk radio) and interesting dialogue and discussion (per public broadcasting). A…
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Posted inSustainability

Relativity and sustainability

When I turned to the Opinion section of the Statesman-Journal this morning, the main editorial was called “Fairview plan would pay dividends for city.” Since Laurel and I are investors in Sustainable Fairview Associates, the LLC (limited liability company) that is trying to purchase and develop the 275 acre Fairview property, naturally I was interested in what the newspaper had to say. On the whole, I had to agree that the sustainable community that hopefully will emerge at Fairview is a wonderful opportunity to showcase Salem and spark the local economy. But since we’ve been so intimately involved with this…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Cancel conservative cranks

I’m all for free speech, but that doesn’t mean I have to listen to, or read, all the hateful crap that conservative cranks, um, crank out. As I’ve observed before, conservative “talk” radio really doesn’t involve much talking between two people. Rather, the talking is almost entirely one-sided, with the cranky host using the public airwaves to rant and rave about his or her personal feelings, and having the power to shut off the voice of any caller who doesn’t adhere to the Republican party line. Wednesday afternoon, while driving around in our Toyota Prius, I allowed KXL’s Lars Larson…
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Posted inPhilosophy

Secret of happiness revealed

An editor of a (non-commercial) spiritual magazine asked me to write an article for the upcoming issue. A friend had suggested to her that some of my HinesSight postings might provide fodder for the article, and she found my Mini Cooper ravings, which she thought might indeed be massaged into something approaching a mixture of humor and wisdom—likely more the former than the latter. I took her advice and just finished my mini opus, “Secret of Happiness Revealed.” It ties together the gist of several of my postings into an examination of the deeper meaning of Mini Cooper longing. Much…
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Posted inNeighborhood

Here comes the sun…appeal is done

Yesterday was bright for us for several reasons, not least of which was the Marion County Commissioners’ 3-0 rejection of the Nielsen’s request for them to hear an appeal of the denial of their lot partition request that Laurel and I have been fighting (along with other supportive neighbors) for what seems like eternity—but hasn’t been quite that long, I’m sure. We got ourselves down to the Commissioners’ meeting room at the ungodly hour, for us, of 9:00 am, wanting to be there in time to hear Roger Kaye make use of the public comment time at the beginning of…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon, we (don’t) love dreamers

If you don’t live in Oregon, you may not know that our new marketing/branding slogan, or tag line, is now “Oregon, we love dreamers.” Yeah, right. Oregon loves the predictable, the status quo, the uncreative, the simplistic answers to serious problems. Clear evidence for this is tonight’s apparent 60-40% defeat of Measure 30, the 2003 legislature’s hard-fought bipartisan solution to our budget problems that was referred to the voters after an out-of-state anti-tax group stuck its nose into Oregon’s affairs. Because most people are selfish, and don’t bother to inform themselves about complex issues, it looks like 60% of the…
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Posted inSustainability

What Mars? What environment?

I enjoyed the terminally cranky, but (almost) always enjoyable Mark Morford as he shared his latest rant on Bush’s anti-environmental policies. It truly is amazing, how the right wing has made conservation anathema for conservatives. Shouldn’t conservatives be committed to conserving? You would think so. My dear deeply conservative mother, who had me reading National Review before Anderson’s Fairy Tales, or so I remember in my increasingly muddled recollections of my childhood, was thrifty and concerning about waste in that good old-fashioned New England fashion. If she were alive today, I think she would be writing empassioned letters to the…
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