Facing Ali

Pete McCormack's Facing Ali (2009) is fantastic! Tonight, the fiftieth anniversary of the first Cassius Clay (soon thereafter to become Muhammad Ali) vs. Sonny Liston heavyweight fight in Miami, seems like a fitting time to cover it. 

This fascinating documentary looks at Ali from the perspective of ten of his major rivals in the ring. It serves spotlight cultural history, personal and sports history and riveting real life drama, woven together in a very cool, absorbing way (music and intertitles included).

Four of the ten participant boxers have since died, making Facing Ali all the more poignant and powerful. 

The ten, each of whom has something major to say -- underscored by brief discussions of their backgrounds and aspirations -- respond to Muhammad Ali (b. January 17, 1942) in complicated ways, even as they go over their together time in the ring. In alphabetical order, they are:

George Chuvalo (b. 1937)
Sir Henry Cooper (1934-2011) 
George Foreman (b. 1949)
Joe Frazier (1944-2011)
Larry Holmes (b. 1949)
Sonny Liston (ca. 1929-1970 -- archival footage)
Ron Lyle (1941-2011)
Ken Norton (1943-2013)
Earnie Shavers (b. 1945)
Leon Spinks (b. 1953)
Ernie Terrell (b. 1939)

I tell you, even if you have no interest in boxing, even if you hate boxing and think it's barbaric, this is an astonishing documentary. In fact, I just bought a copy on sale so I can see it again and spread the word.

Today's Rune: Fertility.   

Hello, My Name Is . . .

Before I get back to reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life: A Practical Guide (2003), here's a little something she delves into: the power of names. Her real name, she observes, inspired her to do something different in life, and for that she's abundantly thankful. But, she also notes, anyone can rename themselves if they so choose, and for whatever reason. Maybe it's a symbolic religious choice, or a political one. Or maybe one feels inspired by something completely different. Maybe a person takes a shine to a moniker given by others, or decides to take up a stage name, or a pen name.

Now we're getting into all sorts of identity dimensions. 

Tharp dives deeper into the idea, but that's without me reaching for the book and quoting anything else outright.

One type of name is the one name. Off the top of my head, there are such folks as Prince, or the Artist Formerly Known as Prince; Madonna; Twiggy; Sade; the great Voltaire; Adele; Selena.

Another type combines two names, like Lady Gaga and Iggy Pop, Joey Ramone, Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious.

Others take a middle name, or go with initials, keeping their gender or other variable mysterious, often to break down or outflank barriers of some kind.

What do you think? Have you toyed with your name over the years? Was there a trigger or inspiration? Do you emphasize, like or prefer part of your name? Or have you ever transformed your name entirely like Malcolm X or Muhammad Ali?

 

Today's Rune: Partnership.  

  

Ali-Frazier: The Fight of the Century Plus Forty

[Orginally posted on November 6, 2008 -- now it's forty years later . . .]

Taking a break from the present, I found a ticket dated March 8, 1971, saved from when my Dad took little-kid-me over to Raleigh, North Carolina, to see "THE BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS" on large closed circuit TV at Reynolds Coliseum on the North Carolina State University Campus. The champions in question were Muhammad Ali and Smokin' Joe Frazier. What I remember: the palpable excitement, my Dad favoring Frazier because of his Philadelphia connections, and Frazier winning after fifteen tough rounds of mutual Frazier-Ali bashing. It was amazing to experience, and both men came off memorably well (hell -- here I am fondly writing about it thirty-seven -- yes, thirty-seven -- years later . . .)

What I didn't know then was that Ali had to fight in order to regain the championship -- he'd had his title taken away for protesting Vietnam. Good God, the more things
change . . . I also had no idea at the time that several of my favorite artistes were at the actual ringside in Madison Square Garden, wild cats as widely ranged as Woody Allen and Frank Sinatra (gee, was Mia Farrow there?), Norman Mailer and Burt Lancaster.

Glad that both Ali and Frazier are still alive and in their mid-sixties, about the same age as many of my favorite rock stars from the 1960s and 70s . . .

Today's Rune: Harvest.

Omar Mukhtar: Lion of the Desert

If you like history, war movies, action movies, and maybe something a little different, you might want to check out Moustapha Akkad's Omar Mukhtar: Lion of the Desert (1980/1981). First, overall it's excellent. Second, it's set in Libya during Italy's fascist period, with Mussolini aiming to expand his "New Roman Empire" in Africa, focusing on the struggle between Libyan guerillas vs. Italian occupation and shot with meticulous detail. Third, none other than Colonel Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi / Qaddafi invested heavily in the film. Fourth, director Moustapha Akkad, who also produced the Halloween series of films, was, along with his daughter, assassinated by an al-Qaeda bomb in Jordan in 2005. Fifth, Lion of the Desert was not shown on Italian TV until 2009 -- nearly thirty years after its theatrical release. 

I have only minor issues with Lion of the Desert: early on there's a little bit of hokiness, some melodramtic music and a crazy affinity for zoom shots, sort of like a 70s TV movie. But once it kicks into gear, this film becomes mesmerizingly more effective. It's as if the director and crew settled down and really got to work after some initial adjusting. The cast is strong, especially Anthony Quinn as Omar Mukhtar, the guerilla leader, and Oliver Reed as Rodolfo Graziani, the relentless, brutal and merciless Italian commander. Having earlier played Napoleon, Rod Steiger also does a pretty good impression of Mussolini. Let's not forget Irene Papas.

The conflict itself seems as old as humankind itself, though in the modern style, the Italians are fully mechanized and the guerillas move around on foot and horseback with light weaponry and explosives. One of the most impressively dramatic -- and horrific -- scenes is the 1931 Italian blitzkrieg assault on Kufra, starting with aerial bombardment (a prototype of Guernica, Spain, 1937), next ground artillery, then small Whippet-like tanks and machine-gun mounted armored cars followed by infantry. Other horrors include the creation of concentration camps surrounded by barbed wire and flanked with guard towers, public hangings, poison gas, and a massive barbed wire "Hadrian's Wall" running north-south in Eastern Libya, cutting the rebels off from Egypt. It's nasty stuff, like so much of war is, made more nightmarish through use of modern weapons churned out by the 20th century's Satanic mills. Finally, there is also human decency in the film, epitomized by individuals on both sides of the conflict, an important touch.

Today's Rune: Defense.   

The 70s: Bring Out Your Dead, Part I

Some of those who died in the early 1970s but still reverberate:

Jimi Hendrix (11/27/1942-9/19/1970). We haven't see nor heard anything quite like him since, have we? Playing guitar or otherwise.

Janis Joplin (1/19/1943-10/4/1970). Ditto Hendrix for her. Of women, the only singer I can think of who seems as intense, since Joplin's death, is Amy Winehouse.



Charles "Sonny" Liston (ca.5/8/1932-12/30/1970). Fought Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali; the second bout (May 25, 1965) was especially notable for "the phantom punch." Was it a setup or did Ali deck him? Really a sad guy.

Jim Morrison (12/8/1943-7/3/1971). The Doors, man.

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong (8/4/1901-7/6/1971). Often called the greatest jazz musician (trumpet), and synonymous with New Orleans. Widely liked and respected, yet put under FBI surveillance for supporting integration.


Diane Arbus (3/14/1923-7/26/1971). Photography. Can you dig?

Nikita Khrushchev (4/15/1894-9/11/1971). Cold Warrior, Soviet side.

Duane Allman (11/20/1946-10/29/1971). Another fantastic guitarist; and Southern rock hero. Killed at 24 in a motorcycle wreck.



Roberto Clemente (8/18/1934-12/31/1972). One of the coolest baseball players I've ever seen. Still remember watching Pittsburgh Pirates games with my parents as a kid -- wow. Clemente was batting .414 in the 1971 World Series, which Pittsburgh won. Jesus, I can still remember the excitement, whenever Manny Sanguillen or Willie Stargell or Roberto Clemente was up at bat. Clemente, originally from Puerto Rico, died in a plane crash carrying earthquake relief to Nicaragua.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (8/27/1908-1/22/1973). 36th President of the United States. He presided over a lot of good things during rough times. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act, the Great Society -- Medicare, Medicaid, education assistance (including the launch or expansion of hundreds of junior or community colleges), PBS, and more. But race riots and Vietnam took him down, ushering in Nixonian America.

Salvador Allende (6/26/1908-9/11/1973). Democratically elected socialist president of Chile, brought down with the collusion of Nixonian America in the coup d'état of 1973. He committed suicide rather than surrender to the incoming junta of General Augusto Pinochet.

Pablo Neruda/Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (7/12/1904-9/23/1973). Chilean poet, died soon after the death of Salvador Allende, whom he supported. Having won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, he responded during a Pinochet-ordered military raid on his home with the last up yours of a poet: "Look around -- there's only one thing of danger for you here -- poetry."

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Tyson: After the Fall

Highly recommended: James Toback's documentary Tyson (2009). Not only is the film well constructed, but the director allows Mike Tyson to speak his mind in a non-intrusive way. Unlike the usual interview technique, there is no talking head across from Tyson. During filming, Toback asked questions from behind, like a cagey modern Freud. The results are outstanding. Tyson's unique observations are fascinating, and well-worth hearing. Tyson also appeared with Oprah Winfrey earlier today in a way that supplemented the film.


Tyson is one of the most interesting documentaries I've ever seen. There are other films on boxers that are good, too, covering Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Smokin' Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, and so on. What's amazing to me is how familiar these icons are, largely through cultural osmosis, as primal archetypal figures. Tyson shows a mortal person in a memorable way.

Today's Rune: Movement.

Soul Power '74: The Movie

Jeffrey Levy-Hinte's Soul Power pulls together concert and interview footage from Zaire '74, a festival event* originally timed to coincide with "The Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman (see also Leon Gast's 1996 documentary When We Were Kings). The fight was delayed, but the music show went on. Features quips and performances by Ali, Don King, James Brown, Miriam Makeba, B.B. King, Celia Cruz, The Spinners, Bill Withers, Hugh Masekela, and more. Playing at select hip theatres this summer, including at the DIA in Detroit. *(Location: Kinshasa, Zaire, now Democratic Republic of the Congo).

http://www.sonyclassics.com/soulpower/




Today's Rune: Defense.

By Birth Or By Choice: Why Do People Believe What They Do?

The cultural outpouring surrounding Michael Jackson's death reminds me of similar wakes, in death, swirling around Princess Diana, Curt Cobain, John Lennon, Elvis, MLK, RFK, Malcolm X, JKF, only now reverberating even more so through an internet echo chamber. A smaller but similar version of this came with Heath Ledger's death, come to think of it.

This phenomenon has made me wonder, again, why people believe what they believe, and why, per capita, some things seem so much more important than others, why a cult of personality revolves around some but not around most of the living or departed.

Do people believe what they do because of geography, birth, age, family, friends, personal quest, education, divine intervention, fate, kismet, luck, will, contrariness, emotional needs, personal issues, cultural exposure, brainwashing, aesthetics, self-selection? Is a religion more "important" than a "cult"?

From just a relative handful of newly created movements (since about 1800):

Was Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh / Osho a religious leader or a cult leader?

What inspired Ngo Van Chieu to create Cao Dai in Vietnam? Why is Victor Hugo a saint in the Cao Dai pantheon?

How do you define L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology?

How about Sister Aimee Semple McPherson Foursquare Church? (GOP Senator John Ensign of Nevada is a member, I learned a few days ago).

What of Marcus Garvey, Haile Selassie and the Rastafari movement?

How about George Baker aka Reverend Major Jealous Father Divine and the International Peace Mission Movement?

Or Paul Twitchell and Eckankar?

Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church?

Joseph Smith, Jr., and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and related groups, aka Mormons?

James Springer White and Ellen Gould White, Seventh-day Adventist Church?

What of Mírzá Ḥusayn-`Alí Nuri (aka Bahá'u'lláh) and the Bahá'í Faith?

Jim Jones, People's Temple?

Ayya Vaikundar and the Incineration of Evil Spirits?

Charles Taze Russell, Jehovah's Witnesses?

Helena von Hahn aka Madame Blavatsky, Theosophy?

Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science)?

Noble Drew Ali, Moorish Science Temple of America (Moorish Science)?

Master Fard Muhammad, Nation of Islam?

Gerald Brousseau Gardner aka Scire, Wicca?

Charles Fox Parham, Pentecostalism?

Kim Il-sung, Juche?

Clarence 13X (Clarence Smith), The Nation of Gods and Earths, aka the Five-Percent Nation of Islam?

Who is right? Who is wrong? Who plays the best guitar? What are the top five most important fill-in-the-blanks according to fill-in-the-blanks' opinion?

Born into it, chose it, was chosen by it?
Switched, fought, or walked a mile for it?

For now, I'll end with this thought: "We can act as if there were a God; feel as if we were free; consider Nature as if she were full of special designs; lay plans as if we were to be immortal; and we find then that these words do make a genuine difference in our moral life." -- William James, "Reality of the Unseen," The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902.

Today's Rune: Movement.

Mashups, Sacred and Profane

When modern freedom of expression collides with religious tradition, watch out for the fireworks. There will probably always be people who respond with violence -- as is the case when, say, an artist publishes a cartoon image of Muhammad and draws death threats or assassination.

Above is "American Fundamentalists (Christ's Entry into Washington in 2008)" by Joel Pelletier (after Belgian artist James Ensor's "Christ's Entry into Brussels," 1888-1889), 2004.



















Just lately, there's this Mexican Playboy cover showing María Florencia Onori (PG rating) lamely modeled after the Virgin Mary, I suppose. "Te Adoramos, María," proclaims the caption. According to Alex Dobuzinskis, with Bob Tourtellotte and Todd Eastham, Reuters, "Nude Virgin Mary cover prompts Playboy apology" (12/13/2008):

Raul Sayrols, publisher of Playboy Mexico, said in a statement, "The image is not and never was intended to portray the Virgin of Guadalupe or any other religious figure. The intent was to reflect a Renaissance-like mood on the cover."

Playboy Mexico printed 100,000 copies of the issue.

Weird composition, aside from "intent" and "mood." But I say: big whup. Madonna has stirred up trouble repeatedly over the years toying with the same kind of imagery. Even her stage name spotlights the idea of the "Madonna-whore" complex, which gets at a core issue: what is the "proper" role of women in a society? Again, freedom collides with religious tradition. Hopefully by now, there are thousands of "roles" for woman to fulfill besides the extreme ones of pedestal or scapegoat.

Compare notes with the Gospel of Elvis, from Change of Habit (1969):



Today's Rune: Initiation.

The Fight of the Twentieth Century; or, The Battle of Champions

Taking a break from the present, I found a ticket dated March 8, 1971, saved from when my Dad took me over to Raleigh, North Carolina, to see "THE BATTLE OF CHAMPIONS" on large closed circuit TV at Reynolds Coliseum on the North Carolina State University Campus. The champions in question were Muhammad Ali and Smokin' Joe Frazier. What I remember was: the palpable excitement, my Dad favoring Frazier because of his Philadelphia connections, and Frazier winning after fifteen tough rounds of mutual Frazier-Ali bashing. It was amazing to experience, and both men came off memorably well (hell -- here I am fondly writing about it thirty-seven -- yes, 37 -- years later . . .)














What I didn't know then was that Ali had to contest for the championship because he'd had his title taken away for protesting Vietnam, for refusing to go to an unpopular war (good God, the more things change . . .). I also had no idea at the time that many of my subsequently favorite artistes were at the actual ringside in Madison Square Garden, cool cats as widely ranged as Woody Allen and Frank Sinatra (gee, was Mia Farrow there?), Norman Mailer and Burt Lancaster.

Glad that both Ali and Frazier are still alive and in their mid-sixties, about the same age as many of my favorite rock stars from the 1960s and 70s . . .

Today's Rune: Fertility.

La Vie En Rose

Chimes at midnight. One new revenue source for plugging the Michigan budget gap comes from extending the 6% state sales tax to astrological services. I'm sure that'll raise a bundle. Ha!

Hell, it's Deborah Kerr's birthday, time to break out From Here to Eternity (1953), the all-star movie based on James Jones' 1951 novel of the same name. Might as well, because midnight seems like an eternity away.


Birthday and Vespa "girl" Angie Dickinson. Anyone remember Police Woman?

Marion Cotillard from an English language edition poster for La Môme / La Vie En Rose (2007). In the movie, she stars as Edith Piaf. Cotillard is, in fact, beautiful, whereas the Little Sparrow compensated for any aesthetic imperfections with charisma and voice. Sort of the spiritual cousin of Billie Holliday.

Monica Belluci -- hot, hot, hot. Just like Italian coffee. And cool as Italian ice.

Today's Rune: Growth.

Birthdays: Rumi (Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī), José María Teclo Morelos y Pavón, William Wrigley Jr., Buddy Rich, Deborah Kerr, Truman Capote, Elie Wiesel, Angie Dickinson, Anna Kashfi, Johnny Mathis, Frankie Lymon, Marc Bolan, Eric Stoltz, Monica Bellucci. Jenna Elfman, Marion Cotillard.

Message to the Michigan Legislature:

Ciao!

It's a Give and a Take

We live by codes, we live to crack codes. We want freedom, but we want stability and respect. Lately, Swedish artist Lars Vilks is in hiding. Why? He broke an Islamic code. He mocked the Prophet Muhammad, and he did it deliberately. Now he has a bounty on his head. Worse, as any episode of The Sopranos shows, things often -- shockingly and in a flash -- spiral out of control. Now, Islamic hardliners are threatening to attack anything Swedish -- including IKEA and Volvo and, heaven forbid, Electrolux. Imagine: one minute you're trying to replace a part for your vacuum cleaner, the next minute a bomb goes off in your face. And why? Because Lars Vilks is part of a collective, anything Swedish. Does it make any sense? Ask the children of Hiroshima.


The great Swedish actress Greta Garbo. Perhaps Islamic radicals will mock pictures of her in retaliation against Vilks?


Here's sexy Spanish actress Pilar López de Ayala Arroyo. Madrid was bombed because Spanish troops were in Iraq.

Today's Rune: Flow.

Birthdays: Samuel Johnson, Greta Garbo (Greta Lovisa Gustafsson), Jack Warden, Robert Blake, Jimmie Rodgers, James Gandolfini, Tara FitzGerald, Aisha Tyler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Pilar López de Ayala Arroyo.

Ciao!

Dark Passages

Feeling suicidal? Want to be a martyr for the freedom of expression? Why guillotine yourself -- like a Metro Detroiter did a few days ago -- when all you need do is post a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad on the internet? You'll be sure to have a death sentence on your head in no time. . . . .

Yesterday was Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink's birthday. The 52-year-old advocate of free speech and civil tolerance was assassinated in January by a 17-year old fanatic for "denigrating Turkishness." I would not be surprised if our fellow blogger Istanbulwitchy was also brutally "dealt with," for poking fun at Muslims.

Here's the latest in a similar line. Like Bill Moyers, who gave a memorable speech recently about the importance of standing up for free speech, I find the violent response of fanatics (of any stripe) to free thought a loathsome thing and a definite threat.

"We [an Al-Qaida affiliate] are calling for the assassination of cartoonist Lars Vilks who dared insult our prophet, peace be upon him, and we announce a reward during this generous month of Ramadan of $100,000 for the one who kills this criminal . . . The award will be increased to $150,000 if he were to be slaughtered like a lamb."

(Source: "Bounty set in Sweden cartoon row," September 15, 2007, ALJAZEERA.NET).

When one becomes upset over a perceived hateful image, challenge it in court. Boycott. Do something civil. Don't have journalists and artists killed, for God's sake. Oh, and -- get a sense of humor. Try a little tenderness . . . . .


Today's Rune: Signals.

Birthdays: Jean Arp, Stephanie von Hohenlohe, Karl Dönitz, Alexander Korda (Sándor László Kellner), Vladimír Holan, Lauren Bacall (b. Betty Joan Perske), Charlie Byrd, B. B. King, Peter Falk, Jack Kelly, Ed Begley, Jr., Earl Klugh, Frank Reed (The Chi-Lites), Mickey Rourke, Jennifer Tilly, Molly Shannon, Ginny Heather Holly (Heather Hopper), Alexis Bledel, Fan Bingbing.

Images: Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Dark Passage (1947); The Thief of Bag[h]dad (1940), directed by Alexander Korda.

The Full Monty

1. Last night on The Daily Show, comedian and UNC-Chapel Hill alum Lewis Black brought up Conservapedia, saying it was created by conservatives to rival Wikipedia and bring "conservative values" to the forefront. He wasn’t joking. Here’s a sample from Conservapedia’s article on G.W. Bush:

“Though the liberal media continues to disparage Bush’s handling of the economy, they often neglect to report the many aspects of the economy that Bush has improved. For example, during his term Exxon Mobile has posted the largest profit of any company in a single year, and executive salaries have greatly increased as well.”

Good God, how stupid can they be?* In any case, check it out if you dare. Satire can't beat the actual. Neither could a Marxist. However, I’m not putting a live link here for the simple reason that I don’t want to be directly linked to such a thing as this -- created by home schooled mutants (i.e. the Conservative base).


2. Prisons in the USA: There are now (according to a recent Associated Press report) approximately 1.6 million American prisoners in the USA. About 60% of them are black or Hispanic/Latino.

There are 191,080 federal prisoners -- a larger number than the entire US military contingent occupying Iraq, even with the "Surge." What is wrong with this country? Land of the free, home of the brave?


3. Thanks to the majority of robed wonders on the Supreme Court, Brown vs. Board of Education (1954) is in tatters. Rollback to before Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896): separate and unequal is the American way, apparently -- and somebody must be pleased about it. Four soulless ghouls carried the day -- Alito, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas. Kennedy moderated their opinion slightly. Berger, Ginsburg, Souter and Stevens (with help from Breyer) opposed the rollback.

*One can hope this segment is a hoax. Could anyone really be that naive?

Today’s Rune: The Mystery Rune.

Birthdays: Henry VIII, Giovanni della Casa, Peter Paul Rubens, John Wesley, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A. E. Hotchner, Mel Brooks (Melvin Kaminsky), Hans Blix, John Inman, Muhammad Yunus, Gilda Radner (Detroit), Anny Duperey (Legras), Kathy Bates, John Cusack, Mary Stuart Masterson.

Fight the Power! March to the sound of the guns!

Eva Braun Sings the Blues

Since Columbine (1999), Hitler's birthday has proven an extra dodgy teaching day. Frankly, I'm glad to be out of school for the weekend. As requested by administrators, at high noon I had my class join in the moment of silence for the Virginia Tech slain and wounded, quietly adding an extra moment for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Afterwards, I ordered a stack of new library books. One that looks interesting is Angela Lambert's The Lost Life of Eva Braun (2007), about Ms. Braun -- who spent her last day on Earth as Eva Hitler.

From what little I know at this point, Eva Braun's adult life seems like a Grimm fairytale set in Hell. She first met Adolf Hitler while working for Nazi photographer Heinrich Hoffmann and still a teenager; Hitler (aka "Herr Wolff") was pushing forty. Other women were also intimately with Hitler about this time -- Maria "Mimi" Reiter, his "fiancée," who became so distressed she tried to hang herself; his niece Angela "Geli" Raubal, who either shot herself or was shot by Hitler, whom she'd called "Uncle Alf." While Braun and Hitler were going full steam, actress Renate Müller, another of Hitler's sunshine valentines, threw herself (or was pushed) out a window.

Not surprisingly given her strange role as Hitler's secret "friend," Eva Braun also suffered occasional bouts of depression and, like all the others, tried to kill herself. Hitler explained to her that it was better if the masses thought him single, sort of like the Pope -- after all, he especially didn't want to alienate the other women of the Third Reich. They would, he felt, be terribly disappointed to see a steady woman by his side at public outings.

Hitler kept her on behind the scene, though, through the Second World War. She was well-attended, had a driver and domestic help. He obviously liked her and probably even loved her in his own special way. In the final Berlin days in the Bunker in April 1945, the fussy Hitler permitted only her to smoke inside; everyone else had to brave Russian projectiles and smoke in the streets.

The final act of Eva Braun's little fairytale: near closing time, she and Adolf Hitler married and that's when she took his surname. The next day, April 30, 1945, with the Russians closing in, they both swallowed poison and he also shot himself. Not exactly living happily ever after, but there it is. The End.


Three of the most riveting films about the Third Reich from the inside:

Leni Riefenstahl, Triumph des Willens / Trimph of the Will (1935). Don't try reenacting this indoors.

Luchino Visconti, La caduta degli dei / The Damned (1969). Adults only.

Oliver Hirschbiegel, Der Untergang / Downfall (2004). Excellent attention to detail.

Today's Rune: Strength.

Birthdays: Muhammad(?), Napoleon III, Adolf Hitler, Joan Miró, Mother Angelica, Edie Sedgwick, Adolf Lu Hitler Marak.

What a world -- Bon Voyage!

I Have a Dream Detroit

Detroit has seen and heard from such sparkling orators as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and, most recently, Louis Farrakhan, the current (and recuperating) leader of the Nation of Islam who speaks again in Detroit today at Ford Field, site of last year's Super Bowl.

Malcolm Little (5/19/1925-2/21/1965) joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Malcolm X; he later became a "mainstream" Sunni Muslim and changed his name one last time. His changing identity is fascinating to trace: Malcolm Little, Detroit Red, Malcolm X, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

On June 23, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1/15/1929-4/4/1968), tried out much of his "I Have a Dream" speech in Detroit -- two months before the version he delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Here's a snippet: "They say, 'Why don't you do it in a gradual manner?' Well, gradualism is little more than escapism and do-nothingism, which ends up in stand-stillism. . . We want all of our rights, we want them here, and we want them now."

Malcolm X El-Shabazz in 1965, shortly before his assassination: "I realized racism isn't just a black and white problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another."

Like Malcolm X and MLK, Louis Farrakhan (b. Louis Eugene Walcott, 5/11/1933), now almost 74, has had an interesting life's journey with lots of twists and turns and changes in attitude and approach. Today in Detroit, he's expected to call for Interfaith dialogue.

Nation of Islam: Muhammad's Mosque Number One at 14880 Wyoming Street, Detroit.

Cafe inside Muhammad's Mosque Number One.

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Birthdays: Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919); Herbert "Zeppo" Marx (1901-1979); Anthony Burgess (1917-1993); Diane Baker (b. 1938); Douglas Alan "Doug" Yule of the Velvet Underground (b. 1947); Sandrine Kiberlain (b. 1968); Rashida Jones (b. 1976).

Salaam, Detroit. Salaam, World.