Dear Kontent Korner Fans and Subscribers (hoping you are one and the same!), it's been far too long since I've shoveled a pile of Kontent your way. It's not that I haven't been thinking about you, it's that I've been thinking about you in bits and pieces, dribs and drabs, hodges and podges. That is to say, I have been collecting scraps of goods, tasty morsels that might, when strung together, make for an interesting whole. How’s she going to do that? By reviving a prime technique of late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, the King of Ellipses, who used that three dot punctuation mark(...)to string his own delicious nubbins along. So here goes, Nancy's Kontent Korner: The Ellipses Edition...The Affordable Pastry Report and Spring TV, What Did We Miss?...I had serious cause to return my mouth to Glendale for a glorious reunion with my beloved dentist of yore. Not having seen the man for some 18 years since packing the wagon and heading west, I was thrilled to find his office staff is still with him, they remembered me, he's continuing to comfort the dentally afflicted (though now only 3 days a week), and he had my x-rays from back in 2006. Who does that? He does! And it's just one of the reasons I'm handing my teeth back over to him. The x-rays he took that day told a tale that was far from benign, but he also gave me hope of my oral cavity's secure, safe future. I wish, if I can't just park my choppers with him for those ongoing maintenance concerns, that I could put them in an Uber to send off as needed. Short of that, he assured they would likely all remain for many years to come in my lavishly doted upon cakehole.
Relieved by his promise, I took said cakehole on a sentimental journey to Porto's Bakery on Glendale's Brand Boulevard where I am happy to report the croissants are hopping and the pastries are still mighty fine. Further happy to report that relief is to be found there from the Westside's extreme baked goods inflation. Croissants for $4.25 instead of the $6 going rate in our current stomping grounds. Indeed, everything was far more affordable and just as delicious as those items offered closer to the ocean. I'd begun to worry that the growing inequality of our American Dream had spoiled the pastry possibilities for many, but Porto's teeming crowds prove good eats are still attainable, plus it makes for great people watching. Oh, the Humanity! I enjoyed a spinach-tomato-feta croissant sandwich with plantain chips for lunch and my mouth won't mind regular missions to that dear dentist if I can toss in a Porto's visit...Back home, on the sofa, trying to find something to watch this spring, I will note that we tried but couldn't get into the Sympathizer. It was too gruesome before any introduced plot might make it worth pursuing past the creepy stuff. The jumbled storytelling may have worked better in a novel (and this was a Pulitzer winning one!) but again, the visuals were too off-putting. Call me overly sensitive, but I'm not a glutton for images I can't unsee. Like a guy opening a woman's mouth with a knife. So, after five minutes (or less), we got over to The Jinx, Part 2, because we’d seen that limited series first season about Robert Durst and the murders that he finally didn’t get away with. I knew of Susan Berman, one of his victims, from the 1970s Bay Area journalism scene. That her good buddy Durst had killed her definitely added interest to the first season. But he passed in 2022, and this new offering, which opens with a lurid description of a headless torso found on a Galveston Bay beach, apparently a former neighbor of Durst’s, struck me as disgusting and creepy. So, I’m thinking, maybe it’s time to cancel HBO? We thought we might enjoy the final season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, but the stories were more ugly and mean than funny. Larry David hits a homeless man with a bagel thrown from the window of his luxury car? That's not funny, that's pathetic and sad for all involved. Funny is maybe the homeless man catches the bagel, takes a bite, grimaces, and then throws it back, hitting David, all before the traffic light he's stuck at changes. Just blue skying here.
So, lately, when I want to veg out with some TV and can't find anything on the countless streaming services and cable channels at our choice wearied, technology befuddled fingertips, I find myself hightailing it over to PBS, where Rick Steves pleasantly prevails. Remarkably engaging, he charms me with his travel footage and the feeling I’ve seen enough of those great European destinations that I don’t have to actually go there, dealing with the trauma of air travel and fighting the crowds, so it's perfect for this couch potato. And no one gets their mouth opened with a knife and torsos aren’t found on beaches...I highly recommend his hour on Fascism in Europe. Every voter in America, especially those finding new challenges to their path to the polls, should watch it, especially this year. It prompted me to donate to the station, which gifted me with a copy of that particular episode, in case you'd like to borrow it...Shows we did enjoy and can recommend: Ripley, an eight episode Netflix series. I confess to being a huge Patricia Highsmith fan and found this very dark (indeed, shot entirely in black and white), version riveting. My attraction to Highsmith has always been how she makes Ripley so sympathetic. He just likes the good things in life, appreciates fine art and food, is educated to a certain degree, just hasn't the breaks the boorish, suspect people he kills have had, to the point I root for him to get away with murder.
I enjoyed it even more once I discovered the creator, writer and director of the series, Steven Zaillian, graduated from San Francisco State University about the same time that I did in the mid-'70s, he from the film department, me from English studies. Suddenly I saw the series reflecting the social stratification in San Francisco I and possibly Zaillian experienced at the time. As a working class Boomer attending SF State, I saw the good life being had by The City's Upper Crust and wanted at least a modest portion of that, like decent housing, good eats and affordable opera subscriptions. But didn’t see any path--easy or hard--to get there, while we all suffered through a national economic crisis with inflation and skyrocketing gas prices…just like today! So hustlers and scammers abounded in San Francisco, whereas New York and Los Angeles offered actual employment opportunities. In San Francisco we knew where to eat and what to do on our weekend getaways to the Wine Country and Tahoe, but not how to find work to sustain our journey...A friend recently posted a graphic illustrating American class markers from Working to Middle to Upper. Under “Education” for the middle class it’s learning about money and how to get it, for the upper class it’s learning about power and how to get it, for the working class it's "abstract," which I will dub the Dream Big Humanities, write a bestselling novel and BOOM, you're set for life... British author Richard Rayner has observed that Americans talk about sex but not class and the British talk about class and not sex. So True!... Ripley resonates with an aging generation of those who have long aspired to and worked for The Good Life, but find it increasingly hard to hang onto. Compare this black-and-white Ripley to the 1999 movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley, with Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow romping through a sunny, full color Italy.
Another big diff between the two versions is that Jude Law's Dickie is a dick-ish snob you wanted to kill. In this latest version, I felt sorry for Dickie, played by Johnny Flynn, a lost rich boy trying to find a better life abroad as a (not very good) artist. I didn't want to see him killed, especially in such a brutal way. I'd further hoped that Andrew Scott, the hot priest from one of my all-time favorite shows, Fleabag, would be the hot Ripley, but he's not. It's a cool, calculating performance with Scott as a slimy, cunning chameleon Ripley, able to avoid discovery, not because he is the superior wit but because he is up against such dull ones.
Now that the ‘70s Boomers are facing their own 70s, this Ripley is in tune with current times, where no deed is truly foul or goes unrewarded, as long as you don't get caught...Another enjoyable series was Baby Reindeer, also from Netflix, not necessarily for its superior storytelling but for its mental illness on parade aspect. The female stalker was pathetic enough, but her victim's encouragement of her efforts was bizarre, a fresh twist on Fatal Attraction...Also on the hits list, Hacks, its third season--exceptional writing, performances and direction. It just works all day long, or until you plow through all 8 episodes. Then wait patiently for the fourth season, try to remember all that was enjoyed, even the show’s very existence, as a year and a half or two or four (!) passes while waiting for the next round. Meanwhile, HBO, we will continue to subscribe...Speaking of time's passing, Somebody and I just celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary. I know! How did they do it? Well, Estelle Reiner, when asked the secret to her long term marriage to Carl at their 6oth celebration replied "find somebody who can stand you." And so, Dear Kontent Korner, I guess I did...with decades of love and ellipses helping, as well...
Glad you mentioned Hacks--Jean Smart is an Oregon Shakespeare Festival alum, so we're always rooting for her in whatever vehicle she happens to snag, and Hacks is fine, fine, fine!
Happy 40th from us who just marked 45!