Ray Liotta, A Rant on Guns, Back to Work and The Last Picture Show

Ray Liotta (right) with Joe Pesci in Goodfellas

So what else is new?

Ray Liotta died, so that sucks. He was ten months younger than me. Liotta made his mark in one of cinema's great achievements, Goodfellas (1990) Scorsese. His performance as the gangster, Henry Hill, was part of the film's greatness. Hill was multi-dimensional character, unlike so many cinematic wise guys. For me the film's most memorable scene is the classic "what's so funny about me"? bit that helped Joe Pesci win a well-deserved Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Not to be over-looked is Liotta's role in the scene, by turns laughing, being frightened, confused and relieved. Liotta never was never showcased in such a great film again but he was a consistently good actor whose performance as a lawyer in Marriage Story (2019) Buambach I particularly enjoyed. RIP, a legend....

The second amendment to the constitution of the United States states that "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." So by all means, let's have guns aplenty for those "well-regulated" militias. As for private citizens let's be considerably more circumspect in our distribution of firearms. Surely the founding fathers were not envisioning eighteen-year-olds strolling about with legally purchased assault rifles. The NRA and today's conservatives care more for the right to bear arms than they do the right for children to go to school, people to go to markets, cinemas, nightclubs, concerts or churches without fear of slaughter. Conservatives care about the supposed rights of the unborn but don't give a fuck about anyone other than rich fat cat donors. There are few modern evils quite as pernicious as today's conservative. They are totally lacking in empathy for the poor or disadvantaged. They are racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic and transphobic to the core. They are lying hypocrites beholden only to the wealthy. They are undemocratic and support a corporate oligarchy. Oceans of blood is on their hands and they don't care....

I returned to work Monday after a two year and two month pandemic imposed hiatus. It's like riding a bicycle. I'm very happy to be teaching again and wonder how I survived without it. I have a beginner's class, two students (brothers) from Mexico who know only a smattering of English. Fortunately they are eager lads (27 and 30 years old) which makes my job infinitely easier. Teaching beginners -- trigger warning, education cliche coming -- is a challenge, but who gets anything out of doing things that are easy? Los hermanos will be here for eight weeks and I'm excited to see the progress they make....

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Sadly the Shattuck Cinemas in downtown Berkeley closed last Tuesday. I'd been seeing films there since they opened thirty-four years ago. Berkeley once had twelve movie houses, now it has two and one of them shows nothing but escapist adventure movies and dumb rom-coms. The Shattuck had eight screens and showed indy and foreign films. It's a sad state of affairs in this country when movie theaters are closing left and right. I went to the Shattuck on Saturday and again on it's last day to see films (naturally) but also to pay my respects to a place that gave me so much joy over the years. I saw an estimated 400 pictures there including some of my all-time favorites such as Inside Llewyn Davis, Inglorious Basterds, Drive My Car, Personal Shopper, Everyone Says I Love You, The Other Side of Hope, Le Havre, A Separation to name but a few. Saturday I saw Pleasure (2021) Thyberg which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was about a woman entering the porn industry and for all the nudity and sex it was not the least bit titillating. Porn never is. Tuesday I saw Emergency (2022) Williams about three college students of color who find a young white girl passed out in their house. It's an "as-if-torn-from-today's-headlines" films and it was one of the best recent releases I've seen in a long time. Damn I'm going to miss the Shattuck Cinemas....