Correction

Alexander Payne was born and bred in Omaha, Nebraska.

Nebraska

Alexander Payne's "The Descendants", which the bureau chief liked quite a bit, marked the first time that the director had merged his dark humor with some heart. He pulls that feat off again in "Nebraska." The two films offer some interesting contrasts of social class. The prize that concerns the King family in "The Descendants" is 25,000 acres of pristine family land in Kauai, the sale of which will make the family members very rich. The supposed "grand prize" of a million dollars in "Nebraska" is recognized by everyone who examines the document to be a magazine subscription come-on; everyone except for the aged and confused Woody Grant (Bruce Dern).

At the start of the film the old man is drunk and has set off to walk on the highway from Billings Montana to Lincoln Nebraska to get his grand prize. He's picked up by the police and his son David (Will Forte) gets him out of jail but when Woody sets off again, David decides he'll drive Woody to Lincoln. The film is the trip. It's a trip back in time since they stop in Woody's home town in Nebraska where a lot of Woody's family still live. An impromptu family reunion is organized. David's mother Kate (June Squibb) and his older brother Ross (Bob Odenkirk) come down from Billings to join them. Woody blurts out that he has won a million dollars and the extended family refuses to believe the immediate family's statement that that this isn't true. Old debts are suddenly remembered or created.

It's a exercise in deadpan dark humor but also has some moving moments. Some of them are created by Phedon Papamichael's black-and-white cinematography which finds amazing beauty in the enormous depopulated prairie landscape. Alexander Payne comes by his take on Midwesterners honestly since he was raised in Lincoln. The film has a satisfying ending and I recommend it.

Sunset January 12, 2014

It's hard to comprehend that it's winter. It's been sunny for weeks. Every day the temperature goes into the upper 60s. Of course we're in a drought (it's official) but if you ignore that, it's very pleasant. The one reminder of what season we're actually in, is that the sun sets a little after 5 PM. These pictures were taken from the top of Bernal Hill last Sunday.

The Bay Bridge.

Dogs and people

Landscape with prayer flags

Dogs.

Sunset.

Low Tide

On New Year's Day Madame Le Chef and I went out to Ocean Beach. There was a crowd of people enjoying an extremely low tide. You could walk out much further than usual.

Someone had planted roses in the sand.

Dogs liked the low tide.

And so did surfers.

A kid kicked a soccer ball and someone carried their groceries(?).

It was an auspicious start to the new year.

The Tower Stripped Bare

The bureau chief takes lots of photos of the San Francisco skyline, some of them featuring two towers that seem situated fairly close to each other. Both towers have construction cranes atop them. I featured them in blog entries on June 12, 2013 and again on August 24. It took me a while to figure out that while the tower on the right was being constructed, the tower on the left was being deconstructed.

This photo is from June 11 of this year. (Please click.)

This photo is from August 18.

This is from September 1.

And this is from November 16.

I wondered if they were going to take the whole building down and emailed the San Francisco Chronicle's excellent Architecture Critic, John King, to ask him that question. He replied that the building in question was the former AAA office building. It had been sold and the new owners had stripped off the utilitarian concrete facade and intended to sheath it in glass and remodel it into high rise apartments to feed SF's insatiable hunger for housing.

The building is now modestly covered in fabric. This photo is from today. I'll update when the building reveals its final form.

Japanese Animals

Recently the bureau chief was given a gift of rice crackers which had been bought in Japan. The crackers are very tasty and the packaging is wonderful. Apparently the animals depicted are racoons. This menacing looking guy is reminiscent of the racoons who sit on the back deck of the bureau and stare in at us.

These guys are way too happy and goofy to be Bernal Heights racoons.

Swedish Sisters Sing So Sweetly

They put tears in Paul Simon's and Patti Smith's eyes.

First Aid Kit performs Paul Simon's "America" at the 2012 Polar Music Prize. You can skip the ad after 5 seconds.

First Aid Kit performs Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot" at the 2011 Polar Music Prize.