So proudly we hailed our fogged-in land
Ken Maley, who lives at the north end of town, was watching a group of Airbnbers who’d assembled on a nearby deck to watch the July 4 fireworks. “Only the thunder of the fireworks could be heard, and a glow in the fog was visible.”
Unable to see anything much, they stood there on the deck, took out their cell phones and watched broadcasts, a strategy Maley says “did not deter the ooohs and aaahs.”
P.S.: We thought we’d escape not only Donald Trump’s tweets but also the rockets’ (dim but noisy) red glare by going to the movies that night to see “Wonder Woman.”
But the movie was full of special effects louder and certainly more violent than the fireworks would have been. Gal Gadot had first played the character in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” last year wearing a starstudded codpiece; now that patriotic symbol was gone.
Furthermore, the mysterious accent of the Amazonians, including Wonder Woman — “explained” in the movie as a result of their being able to speak every language on Earth — reminded me of Melania Trump’s. And although bad guy Gen. Ludendorff looked snappier in his German uniform than Chris Christie in his beachwear, his face reminded me of the New Jersey governor’s.
There was no escaping. Hated the movie. There, I said it.
Movie writer Ruthe Stein notes that at the Embarcadero Cinema, the end of the run of Eleanor Coppola’s “Paris Can Wait” made room for her daughter
Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled.” “Keeping it all in the family,” emailed Stein, “filmgoers can imbibe Coppola label wine while watching movies at the theater.”
1 Erik Wilson was at the Fillmore Street Jazz Festival last weekend, where at one point, he strolled on the sidewalk next to a woman and her 5or 6-year-old daughter. As they passed Harry’s Bar, the mom told her daughter, “When you were just a baby, we got thrown out of that bar.”
At a booth selling politically themed T-shirts and posters, Wilson found it hard to resist a poster in which a “doctored image of Muhammad Ali stands over a vanquished Donald Trump in the ring.” Wilson believes the original image was from an Ali fight with Sonny Liston. In this poster version, “In the audience, you can spot Hillary Clinton, Big Bird, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, the pope and others.
Gary Tobin received an emailed flyer from the San Rafael Pacifics about last Saturday’s “Alternative Facts Night” game with the Pittsburg Diamonds. The flyer described this as “the hugest event ever. Although 5 million tickets have already been sold, there are still some available. Vladimir Putin will run a mascot race unopposed.”
And in geographical and political keeping with that, Roger Thornhill reports on the menu for the Mill Valley Community Action Network’s July 16 Community BBQ: “Make America Grill Again!” Among the culinary offerings: “S’more Justice; Blue (State) Berries”; “Impeachment Cobbler”; “Salad with RussiaGate Dressing.”
The New York production of J.T. Rogers’ play “Oslo” has gotten rave reviews. The play is about Middle East peace negotiations moderated by Norwegian diplomats. The 1993 Oslo Accords, the agreement that came out of those negotiations, were signed at Bill Clinton’s White House by the Israeli Shimon Peres and the Palestinian Mahmoud Abbas.
Reader James Patterson attended a Sunday, July 2, performance at Lincoln Center Theater, and found himself sitting behind Bill and Hillary Clinton. The couple “arrived quietly,” he emailed, “but got a standing ovation at intermission.”
Coincidentally, Patterson had seen the play “Camp David” in Washington a few years ago, and Jimmy Carter happened to be in the audience then. “Carter signed the Playbill for me,” he says, but “Clinton declined to sign the Playbill for ‘Oslo.’ ”
P.S.: On the way out of a Sunday, July 2, matinee performance of “La Bohème,” Marvin Halpern overheard a child of about 8 ask her mother, “Mommy, did Mimi die because she lost her health insurance under Mr. Trump?”
And furthermore, while it’s still (barely) seasonal: “Being British on July 4 is probably like being Jewish on Christmas.” That was a barista talking with a British customer at Grand Coffee in the Mission District, overheard by Robert Weiner.
“I feel I get a lot of attitude and not a lot of gratitude.” Woman to woman, overheard at Berkeley Rep by Liz Long