4/1/2025

 Tuesday, April 1, 2025

D+146/72

1939 US recognized Francisco Franco's government in Spain at the end of the Spanish civil war. Pope Pius XII congratulated Generalissimo Franco's victory in Spain

1945  US  invaded Okinawa in the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific theatre

1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs' parents' house in Cupertino, California

1982 US formally transferred the Canal Zone to Panama

2001 Slobodan Milošević surrendered to be tried on charges of war crimes.

2001 The Netherlands became the first country to make same-sex marriage legal

2002 The Netherlands legalized euthanasia, the first nation in the world to do so.

2004 Google introduced Gmail

2020  President Donald Trump said the Strategic National Stockpile was almost depleted amid widespread shortages of medical equipment to fight COVID-19

In bed at 9:15, awake at 1:50, and up at 2:20 with a thousand thoughts bouncing around my brain.  

Prednisone, day 346; 3 mg., day 5/21; Kevzara, day 14/14; CGM, day 14/15; Trulicity, day 5/7.  2 mg. of prednisone at 4:45 a.m. and 5  p.m.  Other meds at 8:30 a.m.   Kevzara injection at 10 a.m..   

The Woman in the Fifth is a film by Pavel Pawlikowski starring Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott  Thomas. We watched it last night because of the leading actors.  Like so many other artsy-fartsy films, I didn't get it.  It had a lot of loose ends, unresolved mysteries, and weirdness about it.  After watching it and coming away baffled, perplexed, and confused, I read several reviews that didn't enlighten me.  The one that best reflected my assessment was only a few words: "Another weird Ethan Hawke movie."  Another review started: "Surprised at how much I hated this movie."  A different reviewer said it was the best film ever made and was an allegory about God, Jesus, the Devil, the temptations of the flesh, the need for family and stability vs. the desire for creativity and sexual freedom.  Roget Ebert gave it 3 and ½ out of 4 stars.  He concluded his review with: "Tom has enlisted our identification and sympathy, but he seems hopelessly isolated within his own bubble of despair. How much that happen is in his mind? Why does the busy cockroach crawl so intently across his manuscript pages?"  Why indeed.  Why so many shots of insects?  What was real in the movie vs. what was imagination or hallucination?  And who cares?

My only comment one year ago today was:

Pain, etc.  Left shoulder and right wrist pain are both pretty nasty in the early morning.  I read the label instructions last night for Tylenol 8 Hour Arthritis tabs.  "Do not take more than 10 days unless instructed by your doctor." Also warnings of severe liver damage.  

By this time last year, I was in very bad shape, with the PMR misdiagnosed as osteoarthritis.   Diclofenac, Tylenol, and physical therapy provided no relief from the pain.  It would be another several week before it was properly diagnosed and relief came with prednisone.

More signs of old age.  I have the thermostat set at 72°, I am wearing a thurtleneck long sleeve shirt, my fleece winter vest, and a heavy flannel shirt, and I am cold.

Bring Them Down is a 2024 Irish movie on  MUBI directed by Christopher Andrew.  It's billed as a "gripping revenge thriller" and I suppose that is as good a description as any other.  It's a Hatfield and McCoy feud tale between the O'Shea family and the Keely family who share sheep grazing land on a mountain in Western Ireland.  It's also an Irish version of our Blue/Red divide, but in this case, it's the O'Shea sheep marked by blue spray paint and the Keely sheep marked by red.  Roger Ebert (Matt Zoller Seitz) gave it 3 our of 4 stars.

“Bring Them Down” begins with flashback: on a winding road through a forest in West Ireland, a car drives too fast and crashes. The wreck leaves the driver unscathed but disfigures his girlfriend and kills his mother. The driver, now in his thirties, is sheep farmer Michael O’Shea, played by Christopher Abbott, who excels at playing quiet men who notice a lot but say little. After the accident, Michael’s girlfriend, Caroline (Nora-Jane Noon), ends up marrying a sheep farmer named Gary, whose family lives on a property nearby. Michael remains on the family sheep farm with his father, Ray . . . a proud, bitter, hot-tempered man whose default mode of communication is lashing out. The son bows to the father. 

It goes downhill from there: murder, mutilation, decapitation, sheep being rustled and dismembered while still alive.   The flick we watched last night (The Woman in the Fifth) was a downer; this was worse.