Movies are an American art form. Perhaps America’s finest.

A movie star died in the past hours. One of significant repute. An outstanding performer.

Patricia Neal.

I especially enjoyed her in The Fountainhead. To this day I am not sure whether it was her performance or Ayn Rand that made me feel that way.

She received an Oscar for Best Performance in Hud. She played a gutsy older woman to the younger Paul Newman.

In 1965, she suffered several strokes. She was only 39 at the time. Taught herself to talk and walk again. And returned to movie making. A big accomplishment!

Yesterday was Sunday. I did my usual thing in the morning. Stayed in bed watching the talk shows. Then it was up and out.

It was be good to Louis time. So I went over to Lee Nails on Flagler for a pedicure. Tammy did me, as usual.

While enjoying the pedicure, I was reading an old Vogue. Women’s places of business do not have men’s magazines.

There was a lengthy article in it about Robert Di Nero, Martin Scorcese and the making of Raging Bull. So interesting! So absorbing! I sat in the chair for at least a half hour after my pedicure was complete to finish reading the article.

The movie literally took years to agree to, prepare, do and recover from. Rememeber, Di Nero gained 60 pounds for the ending portions of the film. He took 6 months off and went to Italy. Ate his way through the restaurants to gain the weight. Then he returned and the picture was completed. Then the poor guy had to spend 6 months getting rid of the extra weight!

Di Nero won an Oscar for Best Actor for the film.

This is not movie day. It is just the way things occurred in the past 24 hours.

I had a quiet lunch at Lucky Day. Cuban toast actually. Still was concerned with my stomach. Drank water. Not even diet Pepsi.

Then to the Coffee House. Two hours spent reading the New York Times. The Sunday Times is a fix. Need it!

Still in a reading mood when I left the Coffee House. It was time for Borders.

I am into my third day of a new book. I like it! A winner! Read it! War by Sebastian Junger. It is about a small group of American soldiers in Afghanistan. They comprise a part of the 173 Airborne Brigade. The author spent 14 months with these soldiers. Living and joining them in their battles in the Korengal valley.

The book was a New York Times best seller. A documnetary was filmed by Junger and another. The documentary won an award at the recent Sundance Film Festivial.

The reason I became motivated to read the book was a show I saw on Morning Joe this past week. Junger was a guest. Everyone on the show had read or were reading War. Everyone was excited about the book. In fact, the show devoted a whole half hour to Junger’s interview.

I had to read the book! Glad I started it.

After some War reading time, I stopped at Lisa’s. My grandkids were excited to see me. We watched the PGA golf tournamnet together for about an hour. Robert and Ally are really into this golf thing!

Last night I hosted dinner for Donna and Terri at the Yacht Club. Marty joined us. He is back in town. It was a long feast. About 3 hours. We had a good time chatting about everything.

I went home after dinner. Donna and Terri went into town. I don’t know where Marty went.

Enjoy your day!

2 comments on “

  1. War by Sebastian Junger has been on my list to read! Hopefully I'll get to it after I rifle through the book I'm reading now. I'm going to assume if you like War that you might also like Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman By Jon Krakauer. Pat Tillman you might recall played football for the Arizona Cardinals and walked away from the game after 9/11 to join the Army. He sadly was killed in battle by friendly fire, yet the army covered that up in fear it would bring negative publicity. It was a fascinating read that angers you at the same time.

    Matt
    Boston, MA

  2. War by Sebastian Junger has been on my list to read! Hopefully I'll get to it after I rifle through the book I'm reading now. I'm going to assume if you like War that you might also like Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman By Jon Krakauer. Pat Tillman you might recall played football for the Arizona Cardinals and walked away from the game after 9/11 to join the Army. He sadly was killed in battle by friendly fire, yet the army covered that up in fear it would bring negative publicity. It was a fascinating read that angers you at the same time.

    Matt
    Boston, MA

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