'For Me and My Gal': MGM's Month of Musicals

The Criterion Channel on November 1 unveiled a collection nearly two dozen classic MGM musicals for streaming this month. One blogger's mission: To watch each and every one.

For Me and My Gal is one of those early musicals that collects a bunch of songs not for any particular storytelling reason, but because they were the songs the producer decided to use. In this case, at least, a rationale is offered: We're witnessing a story of love and loss -- lots of loss; everything that can hurt somebody's feelings in this movie ends up happening -- on the World War I vaudeville circuit. George Murphy loves Judy Garland loves Gene Kelly who loves fame so much that he'll betray Garland -- and his country -- to achieve it.

This is Kelly's first film role, and he bursts onto the screen fully formed -- the smile, the charisma, the muscular style of dancing. He's a bit of a cad in this role, but you can't keep Gene Kelly down: His character finds his way to redemption.

Judy Garland is all glistening-eyed melodrama in this one -- her heart gets broken in a half a dozen different ways. And she oozes talent in this role, belting out her songs and dancing up a storm.

George Murphy is the actor whose star has dimmed a bit over time. He went on to be the US Senator from California -- he was elected even before Ronald Reagan -- and you can see why from this film: He doesn't have the talent of Kelly or Garland, but he does have an All-American gee-whiz earnestness that lets him function as the moral center of the picture.

The film was directed by Busby Berkeley, one of the most famous directors of early American musicals, so if you're looking for a first-rate example of the form, this is it.

Notable songs: 'For Me and My Gal,' 'Oh You, Beautiful Doll.'

Best dance: 'Ballin' the Jack.'

Best line of old-timey dialogue: Garland to Kelly: "You'll never be big time because you're small time in your heart."

See it? Yes.

The next election is sacred, too.

The next election is sacred, too.

In recent weeks, Republicans have defended President Trump against the prospect of impeachment by suggesting that Congress would be undoing the results of the 2016 presidential election by removing its winner from office. If Democrats in Congress were acting in the complete absence of wrongdoing by the president, the GOP argument would be powerful. But there is plenty of evidence of wrongdoing, and the Republican argument is misguided.

It isn’t difficult to understand why. But let’s break down what the president is accused of doing, and why it is impeachable.

The allegation is this:

That President Trump abused his power…

...to pressure Ukraine officials to investigate Joe Biden and his family…

...in order to undermine Biden’s chances of winning the White House in 2020.

Again: President Trump used his official power — the power voters gave him — to put his thumb on the scale for the 2020 election.

The 2016 election was important. It was fought under rules I don’t like or believe to be sufficiently democratic — that’s been the case since before I was born — and, yes, I found the results appalling. But mostly because I fully expected President Trump to abuse his power early and often. Which the evidence suggests is exactly what he has done.

But the 2020 election is important too. And if the will of the people matters as much as Republican say it did in 2016, then the role of the federal government and its officials — including Donald Trump — is not to put their thumb on the scale, but to protect the integrity of that election.

Trump, by trying to get Ukraine to act against Biden, threatened the integrity of that election. He threatened the will of the voters of 2020.

Impeachment, then, is a necessary corrective. Otherwise, I don't know how the American people can trust the election process in the future.

If the next election matters in any democratic sense, then the GOP argument against impeachment makes little sense. If we want the voters to have the final say on who occupies the Oval Office, that must be true in the future as well as the past.

The sailing lifestyle in Kansas (plus, my favorite YouTube sailing channels)

Over the last six months, I've become somewhat addicted to YouTube sailing videos. There are lots of channels created by people who gave up the rat race, bought a boat, and started the "cruising life" full time. I'm not going to abandon my own life for the Bahamas anytime soon, but I've noticed some things about the videos I admire most -- how the people live their lives -- that I can probably duplicate in Kansas.

• They do a lot of yoga. There's not a lot of room on a small boat for a workout program. Lots of the video people do yoga pretty regularly. As I get older, I increasingly realize a stretching routine saves me pain, increases flexibility, and generally gets me through the day with a better attitude. No reason I can't do this on dry land.

• They read a lot. If you're on a long passage, there isn't a lot to do -- most people don't have wifi in the middle of the ocean, only connecting when they get near land in a marina or while at anchor. So. Lots of shots of people reading instead of staring at screens. I've become a little too screen-dependent lately. I need some book time to feel human.

• They spend a lot of time outside. Duh.

• They tend to be active explorers of whatever environment they're in, on land or under water. As a freelancer, it's easy for me to get stuck at home, both working and living. It's time to get out more.

Five of my favorite sailing channels:

Sailing Soulianis: A young Midwestern couple buys a boat, pilots it from the Great Lakes down the river to the Gulf, and begins -- after much work -- cruising.

Sailing Uma: Another young couple, two architects -- one from Canada, the other from Haiti. They spent a couple of years cruising the Bahamas and environs. Now they're about to make the North Atlantic passage to Europe.

Sailing La Vagabonde: Possibly the most famous channel -- they have 1 million subscribers. I didn't get into this for awhile, because it looked like another of the million or so sailing channels that exist to show off young women in bikinis, which I don't find interesting. But then the Australian couple at the center of this channel had a baby and kept cruising. And that made them much more interesting.

The Adventures of Tarka: This one is about to end, because the young man at the center of things has a family to return to. Still. Interesting because he started out as a solo sailor in a relatively small boat. It's charming and I'll miss it.

Sailing Zatara: I have a love-hate relationship with this channel, but it was the first one I started watching with my son. A family of six abandoned their life to cruise around the world, first in a monohull and then a catamaran. There are occasional whiffs of ugly Americanism that sometimes spill over into full-blown MAGAism, so the bloom is off the rose for me, but it's the series that pulled me in.

This is why journalism is necessary, vital and completely doomed as a business model

This is familiar:

As a service to all our readers, unlimited access to Hurricane Dorian coverage on MiamiHerald.com is available throughout the duration of the storm. 

We are working to keep our readers safe and informed during this time. Throughout Hurricane Dorian and its aftermath, the Miami Herald will be providing you with South Florida’s most complete coverage of the storm. Please stay up-to-date with MiamiHerald.com, our mobile apps, newsletters and daily e-Edition. Our team will be providing continuous news, photos, videos and stories throughout this severe weather event.

Journalism is the only business in the world that makes its product free just as demand goes through the roof.

There's a reason for that: The public service aspect of journalism outweighs the moneymaking aspect in times of crisis. But it's a reason why purely market-based approaches to saving newspapers probably won't work. 

Make Blogging Great Again

I keep seeing this “blogs were better” sentiment on Twitter lately.

I agree! But we’re not forced to use Twitter. If you like blogs better, why not…start blogging again?

Getting healthier: How to keep moving when part of you hurts

The pain in my right foot flared up, just a teensy bit today, so I only spent 10 minutes on the treadmill.

Not really a full workout. (Right now, as I get up to speed, I'm trying simply to move a half-hour a day.) But I'm not ready for a weights day. What can I do?

How about the arm ergometer?

The ergometer is basically an arm bicycle machine. And mostly, it's designed for the old and the injured.

Me, I'm injured. Not just the foot -- that should go away. But my torso is pretty badly broken, the result of some invasive surgeries I had nearly a decade ago that saved my life but left me, ulitmately, less than whole. Finding a good exercise regime since then has been difficult: So much of modern exercise is based on strengthening the core and I don't really have core muscles anymore. Yes, this sucks. But it's also the way things are. So.

The ergometer is a great machine. It isolates movement pretty much to arms and shoulders. I don't get quite the aerobic workout I might on a treadmill, but for me the point is to keep moving. I feel better after a half-hour on the ergometer than I do if I do nothing at all. Something, exercise-wise, is almost always better than nothing.

Today, I chose something.

Getting healthier: Energy begets energy

Photo by Jack daniel from Pexels

I've done a better job in 2019 of exercising regularly than I've done since, well, the couple of years right after 9/11. I've not lost weight, but I feel better and my mood is noticeably better when I've had some physical activity. (Who notices? My wife. I'm not mean when I get down. But I definitely get down.)

Alas, I'd had a slowdown over the previous few weeks. And it mattered tremendously. Somehow, I injured my right heel working out - I think it was the bad use of a couple of machines I normally never use - and stayed out of the gym for a little bit. My energy went - I could barely stay awake during most the daylight hours. My spirits declined drastically. It felt like I was going into permanent decline.

Then, on Thursday night, my wife took me to the gym.

It was kind of her. (Sometimes I need that little bit of help getting started. I appreciate that she offers it.) So was her advice: "If you can only do 10 minutes, do 10 minutes."

That's about what I was able to do - 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill before my legs gave out.

She took me again today. Somehow, I did 20 minutes on the treadmill, plus some light weightlifting. And I didn't have to fight low energy levels all day. There was an afternoon nap, but mostly I was alert and engaged.

For me, when I lose momentum in exercise, it takes tremendous effort to renew it. That's what happened again to me in July. But I also have found that energy begets energy. If I invest a little bit, I usually get more in return. I hope to keep building on this.

It pays off for me. It pays off for my family, too. My wife just told me she's taking me to the gym again tomorrow.