In Love Again

I'm in love. My heart is full for a tiny bug-eyed robot named "Wall E." He and another 'bot named "Eve" kept me enthralled Wednesday night and Friday afternoon at separate moviehouses. Here's why two theaters:

A pair of friends and I were to meet for a matinee showing on Wednesday. They arrived on time; I did not. Instead of arriving 10 minutes early, I was 40 minutes late. Wisely, my friends gave up and went inside without me.

When I joined them almost an hour into the film, they lightly scolded me and quickly caught me up on the trashy plot. I loved every sight, sound and brilliant play on heavy themes that we heavyweight 21st century human types must wise up and do something about. Otherwise, I fear winding up in space watching phony if also funny Fred Willard messages and spending all day at the Buy N Large.

Flash forward to Friday. I made up the lost 40 minutes and saw the lovable 'bot movie stem to stern. Another friend and I did a movie matinee marathon that day. We saw "Wall E" first, then headed straight into "Mamma Mia." I was glad to get the full scoop on my Wall E lover and happy I didn't have Meryl Streep's choice of three in "Mamma Mia."

So Friends, Greeks and Robots, lend me your ears...Wall E outdistances Mamma Mia by an Olympic mile. Both are fun to see, but if you go, check your watch and arrive on time. You'll save not only face with your friends, but also money in your Wall E t.

Chicken vs. Egg Again

Does being a good politician give one a good eye for people? Or does one have a good eye for people and winds up being a good politician? The same goes for photographers: which comes first, the sharp eye or the sharp skill?

While the newest exhibition at Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson doesn't answer the question,it does show how two great photographers and two great politicians can sometimes be only two men--with only two careers and four eyes between them.

I refer to retired U.S. Senator Howard Baker (R-Tenn) and the former Governor Ray Mabus (D-Miss). Both men, distinguished public servants, are also distinguished photographers, judging from their world travel photos now on exhibit.

Two friends and I attended the opening last night and were amazed at the quality of skill in dozens of color photos the two men surrendered for the exhibition.

Senator Baker's eye--say, for the old woman watching the street below from her second floor window in Rome, or for the gorgeously windblown, raven-haired, purple-eyed, purple-shawled Elizabeth Taylor shown at (maybe)the D.C. airport--reveals not only good timing, but also a keen sense of distance, line and composition.

In short, an artist a good politician-photographer may also be. See Senator Baker's superb close-up of a bump-skinned brown frog in a green-leafed brown pool for further proof of the man's eye for color, subject and composition. A stunner--for me, the most memorable photo in the exhibit.

Likewise, the still popular former Mississippi governor Ray Mabus has a great eye for color, subject and composition. His portrait style photos of Arab men and women seated in doorways or standing with their children in front of homes in Yemen and Afghanistan, or of colorfully draped women in Bhutan, or the powerfully lensed photos of animals in Africa, or of the Eiffel Tower amid millennial fireworks in Paris--all show Governor Mabus as a man of polished photography and applied people skills not only in Mississippi but wherever across the world he has traveled.

Long a fan of both politicians, I now admire them as photographers. The only disappointment was the storm that kept Senator Baker and his airplane grounded in Knoxville, thus preventing his planned appearance at the Jackson opening last night.

However, for us ladies who think we have a good eye, too, a handsome Ray Mabus in gray silk suit and well-coiffed silver hair helped ease the pain of the dapper, likable Senator Baker's absence.

What is Satire?

Today brought a national firestorm over the cover of the latest New Yorker magazine.

Reportedly, the Obama and McCain campaigns are both offended at the cartoon depictions of Barack and Michelle Obama. The couple is shown in the White House Oval Office exchanging the now infamous "fist pump." He's in Middle Eastern garb, she's in combat fatigues, Afro hairstyle, and AK47 machinery across her chest. In the fireplace, an American flag is burning, and above the mantel is a framed drawing of Osama bin Laden.

OK, now, People...do you really think one of the oldest, most sophisticated, most liberal magazines in America would make fun of the Obamas and risk bringing aid and comfort to the more conservative, more extreme elements who truly believe such depictions are realistic? Not a chance. It's the New Yorker being itself again: hip, wry, sophisticated, informed, satirical. And, dare I assert, "educated."

Which brings up another question, the answer to which perhaps is too much taken for granted by older, more experienced, better educated Americans, e.g., New Yorker readers. To wit: exactly what IS satire? Answer: "A literary work in which irony, derision, or wit in any form is used to expose folly or wickedness." That's from the American Heritage Dictionary of nearly 40 years ago, when definitions were clearer and better understood, apparently.

Meanwhile, both the Obama and the McCain camps must be thrilled at a new opportunity to seek more voters by blasting the liberal New York media. Talk about irony!

Summer Travails--Travels, Rather

Post card today from Seattle friend in Rome. She's traveling Europe with her stepdaughter and two step-granddaughters.

My friend is 69. Stepdaughter in her 40's. The stepdaughter's two girls are 13 and 19. I gather everyone's age is showing.

"It's been a cross between 'Sex and the City' and 'All in the Family,' " writes my pal. "I'd forgotten how 13 is a perpetual bounce between 30 and 8, and how miserable AND ecstatic you can be at 19--all in one hour!"

Had I written a post card to Seattle two summers ago, I would have said, "I'd forgotten how miserable it can be to travel with an ill-suited, incompatible companion. A real nightmare!" Especially on a two-week road trip out West and across Canada. Thank god for scenery; it was our only salvation.

Fortunately, the group in Rome is compatible enough to work the glitches out. The adults have about 30 years of practice as a family. I, by contrast, had a lunches-only history for less than a year with my fellow traveler. By no stretch was it enough to prepare us to work things out, so we visited national parks and stared at lakes, glaciers and mountains in sulking silence. Not exactly happy campers!

Summer Travels over Summer Travails, please. In short, check your partner before you check your luggage. You'll pay in more ways than one without it.